Psychosocial Outcomes in Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes: Associations With Grade Level and Disease Duration

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to examine anxiety and depressive symptoms in adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) to determine differences based on grade level and disease duration.Method: We conducted a secondary data analysis of adolescents with T1D, which included demographic characteristics, general anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms.Results: Of the 147 adolescents included in the analysis, 32% (n=47) were in middle school and 68% (n=100) were in high school. Most had been diagnosed with diabetes for less than 3 years (67.3%, n=99). When controlling for covariates, middle schoolers were more likely to report clinically significant depressive symp-toms compared to their high school peers (b = 0.83,p = 0.008).Discussion: Younger adolescents may be at a higher risk of a clini-cally significant symptom burden from depression and should be screened regularly. Future research should include tailoring psychosocial interventions specifically to an adolescent's age and disease duration. J Pediatr Health Care. (2023) 37, 25-29