Late adolescence and emerging adulthood (ages 18+) pose formidable challenges for adherence to the diabetes regimen, which contribute to poor metabolic control and increased risk for serious long-term health complications (e.g., hypoglycemia and ketoacidosis, microvascular disease, and premature mortality). Emerging adults experience new challenges as they move out of the home and the pediatric health care system. These challenges require daily regulation over one's emotion, cognition, and behavior in a way that is more independent from parents. Further, advances in developmental neuroscience reveal late adolescents are not yet able to integrate their thinking with the social and emotional demands of daily life, suggesting that these challenges occur at a time when the neurocognitive abilities needed to regulate emotion, cognition and behavior are not fully developed. There is increasing evidence that emerging adulthood is a time of high risk, but there is little research to inform how emerging adults with diabetes (or any chronic illness) make this transition successfully. The proposed research builds on our prior work that parental monitoring is beneficial for maintaining adherence across adolescence by bolstering adolescent's own self-regulatory skills (e.g., maintaining diabetes goals, preventing problems from occurring, and adjusting to problems when they do occur) and compensating for such skills when they are not yet developed. We will examine whether still developing neurocognitive abilities limit late adolescents'ability to regulate diabetes problems and adhere to the regimen, and will determine whether parental monitoring may continue to compensate for low neurocognitive abilities. In a longitudinal observational design at two sites (Utah and Texas), 250 adolescents with type 1 diabetes will be recruited in the Fall of their senior year of high school, and assessed annually for three years.
In Aim 1, we identify which neurocognitive abilities (e.g., executive function, impulse control, attentional control) are needed to maintain adherence across the transition to emerging adulthood through behavioral tests and corresponding self- and parent-reports.
In Aim 2, we determine how these neurocognitive abilities relate to the daily self regulation needed for optimal adherence across the transition, using two 14-day diaries conducted in the senior and post senior high year.
In Aim 3, we examine whether parental monitoring across the transition to emerging adulthood benefits those with low neurocognitive abilities, and explore the ways in which parents remain able to monitor daily emerging adults'behavior (e.g., text, phone, in person). The findings will have important clinical applications for the use of family interventions tailored to the self-regulatory skills of late adolescents.

Public Health Relevance

The developmental period of late adolescence and early adulthood is a time of high risk for youth with type 1 diabetes (e.g., poor adherence and metabolic control, loss to medical follow-up, development of complications), due to the changes that occur as youth transition from the family home and pediatric care. The proposed research identifies the neurocognitive and daily self-regulation skills that are needed to maintain adherence across this transition, and explores whether and how parents may continue to facilitate adherence when adolescents are no longer living at home. The findings will provide information that can inform novel interventions to promote better adherence and diabetes management as youth transition to adulthood.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DK092939-04
Application #
8668051
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDK1-GRB-S (J1))
Program Officer
Hunter, Christine
Project Start
2011-07-01
Project End
2016-04-30
Budget Start
2014-05-01
Budget End
2015-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$548,592
Indirect Cost
$96,102
Name
University of Utah
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
009095365
City
Salt Lake City
State
UT
Country
United States
Zip Code
84112
Berg, Cynthia A; Wiebe, Deborah J; Suchy, Yana et al. (2018) Executive Function Predicting Longitudinal Change in Type 1 Diabetes Management During the Transition to Emerging Adulthood. Diabetes Care 41:2281-2288
Butner, Jonathan E; Berg, Cynthia A; Munion, A K et al. (2018) Coordination of Self- and Parental-Regulation Surrounding Type I Diabetes Management in Late Adolescence. Ann Behav Med 52:29-41
Pihlaskari, Andrea K; Wiebe, Deborah J; Troxel, Natalie R et al. (2018) Perceived peer support and diabetes management from adolescence into early emerging adulthood. Health Psychol 37:1055-1058
Wiebe, Deborah J; Baker, Ashley C; Suchy, Yana et al. (2018) Individual differences and day-to-day fluctuations in goal planning and type 1 diabetes management. Health Psychol 37:638-646
Baucom, Katherine J W; Turner, Sara L; Tracy, Eunjin L et al. (2018) Depressive symptoms and diabetes management from late adolescence to emerging adulthood. Health Psychol 37:716-724
Queen, Tara L; Baucom, Katherine J W; Baker, Ashley C et al. (2017) Neighborhood disorder and glycemic control in late adolescents with Type 1 diabetes. Soc Sci Med 183:126-129
Berg, Cynthia A; Queen, Tara; Butner, Jonathan E et al. (2017) Adolescent Disclosure to Parents and Daily Management of Type 1 Diabetes. J Pediatr Psychol 42:75-84
Bohnert, Amy; Zarrett, Nicole; Beets, Michael W et al. (2017) Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) position statement: SBM supports curbing summertime weight gain among America's youth. Transl Behav Med 7:912-914
Suchy, Yana; Queen, Tara L; Huntbach, Bryce et al. (2017) Iowa Gambling Task Performance Prospectively Predicts Changes in Glycemic Control among Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 23:204-213
Mayberry, Lindsay Satterwhite; Berg, Cynthia A; Harper, Kryseana J et al. (2016) The Design, Usability, and Feasibility of a Family-Focused Diabetes Self-Care Support mHealth Intervention for Diverse, Low-Income Adults with Type 2 Diabetes. J Diabetes Res 2016:7586385

Showing the most recent 10 out of 19 publications