Benefit Finding, Negative Affect, and Daily Diabetes Management among Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

Date

2010-11-02

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Abstract

This study examined whether benefit finding was associated with daily experiences of diabetes stress, negative affect, and diabetes management (e.g. daily average blood glucose and daily perceptions of coping effectiveness) among adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Early adolescents aged 10-15 with type 1 diabetes (n=209) completed a benefit finding measure prior to vi participating in a 14-day daily diary study that provided information on daily diabetes stress, daily reports of how well they managed daily diabetes stressors, and daily emotional experiences. Blood glucose readings were also collected during the two-week study, and daily averages were calculated. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was utilized to investigate day-to-day fluctuations of diabetes stress, emotion, and diabetes management as well as investigate whether these daily fluctuations differed as a function of benefit finding. Benefit finding was associated with overall reported higher average daily levels of both positive and negative affect across a two-week period. Benefit finding was associated with a stronger negative correlation between anxiety and lower perceived coping effectiveness. It was also marginally associated with a greater decline in next-day anxiety among older adolescents. Although benefit finding did not buffer adverse associations between negative affect and poorer diabetes management, there was evidence that it may serve to regulate anxiety over time. These findings are consistent with prior research suggesting that benefit finding occurs in a context of distress and anxiety and may serve as an emotion coping resource. However, questions arise about whether benefit finding facilitates better daily diabetes management in the context of ongoing stress and negative emotion during adolescence.

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Adaptation, Psychological, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Stress, Psychological

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