Individual differences and day-to-day fluctuations in perceived self-regulation associated with daily adherence in late adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Abstract

To examine whether individual differences and intraindividual (within-person day-to-day) fluctuations in late adolescents' self-regulation were associated with daily adherence to the type 1 diabetes regimen. 110 school seniors (M age = 17.78 years) and their mothers assessed adolescents' skills underlying self-regulation (executive function, attention, self-control, behavioral inhibition and activation, emotion regulation) and adherence, with glycosylated hemoglobin from medical records. Teens completed daily diaries reporting self-regulation failures surrounding monitoring blood glucose, adherence, and number of blood glucose checks each day for 14 days. Hierarchical Linear Models indicated that better daily adherence was associated with teen and mother reports of better self-regulation skills and teens' reports of fewer daily self-regulation failures. Daily adherence was unrelated to temperamental differences in behavioral inhibition and activation. Results indicate that both individual and intraindividual differences in self-regulation contribute to daily adherence highlighting the importance of daily self-regulatory challenges to adherence.