JPP Student Journal Club Commentary: The Value of Assessing Patterns of Psychosocial Risk and Resilience in Glycemic Control Trajectory Models

Maintaining optimal glycemic control is particularly challenging for adolescents and young adults with type 1 diabetes (T1D), as up to 80% of them fail to meet recommended hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) values (Wood et al., 2013). The developmental and social changes of adolescence and the transition of T1D management responsibilities from caregiver to youth highlight the need for a comprehensive understanding of variables that affect glycemic control. However, most previous studies focus on cross-sectional data. Helgeson and colleagues (Helgeson et al., 2017) describe an underused approach to studying long-term health-care outcomes in adolescents with T1D. They followed 132 youth with T1D for 11 years, beginning in early adolescence. At the start of the study, youth completed measures of parent relationship quality; friend support and conflict; unmitigated communion; symptoms of depression, anxiety, and anger; and self-care behaviors. Parent responses on a broadband measure of youth functioning yielded internalizing and externalizing composite scores.
Source: Journal of Pediatric Psychology - Category: Pediatrics Source Type: research