| Description |
Management of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a difficult self-regulatory process that involves adherence to a demanding daily regimen and thus requires continued attention to detailed management behaviors. Youth with attention problems are likely to struggle with the complex tasks involved in diabetes management. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of attention problems as a predictor of diabetes adherence and metabolic control across time during adolescence and whether parental involvement moderated these associations. Given that past research has excluded attention problems as a predictor of diabetes outcomes or failed to account for other related externalizing behaviors, a secondary goal was to compute a measure of attention problems controlling for other externalizing behaviors. Adolescents with type 1 diabetes (M age = 12.49 years, SD = 1.53) and their mothers (N = 199) reported on adolescent adherence, attention problems, rule breaking, and aggressive behaviors at three time points, 6 months apart. Youth also completed self-reports of their parents' diabetes-specific monitoring and behavioral involvement. Metabolic control was measured via HbA1c collected from medical records. Adolescent report of attention problems was related to adherence across time, such that more attention problems related to lower levels of adherence over time. Youth and mother report of attention problems at time 1 related to Hba1c at time 1, and mother report also related to her report of time 1 adherence. Mothers' pure attention problems measure at time 1 related to their report of youth adherence at time 1. Adolescent-reported mothers' diabetes monitoring and parental behavioral involvement with diabetes at time 1 moderated the attention problems/adherence association at time 1. Parents' behavioral involvement with diabetes moderated the association between youth-reported pure attention problems and adherence at time 1. The results of the current study demonstrate that the assessment of adolescent attention problems in the context of type 1 diabetes is an important practice that may help explain poor adherence. The intersection of attention problems and type 1 diabetes management represents an important area for future study, with implications for intervention with youth and their families. |
