Peer interactions and health among youth with diabetes: An ecological momentary assessment.

Abstract

Objective: We examined the links of supportive and conflictual peer interactions to mood and self-care via ecological momentary assessment. Method: Adolescents with Type 1 diabetes (n = 167, 49% female) recruited between 2018 and 2021 were prompted 8 times a day for 8 days to complete brief surveys that measured perceived social interactions, affect, and self-care. Results: Cross-sectional analyses revealed between-and within-person (WP) links of peer support to positive mood and conflict to negative mood. Between-person peer support was linked to healthy self-care, but WP support was not. Lagged analyses showed conflictual interactions were associated with self-care decline. There was some evidence that females did not benefit as much from support and were more bothered by conflict than others. Conclusions: Results underscore differences in between-and WP links of social interactions to health. Individual differences in support were more influential than conflict, but conflictual interactions had more momentary effects than supportive interactions. Public Significance StatementSubstantive contributions to research on Type 1 diabetes are made by focusing on peer relationships, examining both support and conflict, testing gender moderation, and employing a design that examines proximal links of social interactions to health. Between-person and within-person support and conflict were related to mood, but only between-person support was related to self-care. A key longitudinal finding showed within-person peer conflict was linked to declines in self-care over time.