DEVELOPMENTAL AND SITUATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN COPING AMONG CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH DIABETES

Children and adolescents with diabetes indicated how they coped with t hree diabetes-related situations (diabetes-related social, diet, finge rprick) and a general peer-argument situation. Children utilized appro ach-coping strategies (i.e., problem solving, seeking social support) more frequently than adolescents. Both the approach- and avoidance-cop ing strategies (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, distancing) were h ighly and positively correlated across situations. Across all four sit uations, approach-coping strategies were used more frequently than avo idance-coping strategies. Approach-coping strategies were used less fr equently for dealing with fingerpricks than the other situations. Avoi dance-coping strategies were used more frequently for a general peer a rgument than the diabetes-related situations. In hierarchical regressi ons, after controlling for age, coping strategies accounted for a sign ificant portion of the variance in predicting some global adjustment i ndices (grade point average, depression) and situation-specific, self- rated coping effectiveness. Higher levels of approach coping and lower levels of avoidance coping were generally related to more positive ou tcomes.