Decision-Making Competence and Adherence to Treatment in Adolescents with Diabetes

OBJECTIVE: To examine decision-making competence (the ability to form effective plans for managing different situations) in a sample of adolescents with type I diabetes and their parents. We hypothesized that adolescent decision-making competence would mediate the relationship between parent-adolescent communication and adherence to treatment. METHODS: The sample consisted of 63 adolescents and their parents. Parent-adolescent communication during a problem-solving task was assessed, as well as adolescent maladaptive decision-making (adolescent report), adherence to treatment (parent and provider report; number of glucose tests), and metabolic control (HbA1C). RESULTS: Parent-adolescent communication was associated with adherence to treatment but not with adolescent decision-making. Poorer decision-making was associated with lower adherence per parent report but not provider report or the number of glucose tests. Decision-making competence did not mediate the relationships between parent-adolescent communication and adherence. CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with prior research demonstrating associations between parent-adolescent communication and adherence and identify adolescent decision-making competence as another potentially important correlate of adherence. These findings highlight several areas for future research.