Parent–Child Conflict Moderates the Relationship Between Executive Functioning and Child Disruptive Behaviors in Youth with T1D

Executive function (EF) skills, parent–child conflict, and high blood glucose (BG) may impact child externalizing behaviors. We examined these child and parent factors in families of 5–9 year olds with recent-onset type 1 diabetes (T1D). Parents (N = 125) reported child EF, child externalizing behaviors, and conflict regarding T1D-specific tasks. We used self-monitoring BG uploads to calculate the percentage of time children had high BG (> 180 mg/dl). We entered data into a moderated path analysis using MPlus8. The path analysis revealed a positive direct effect for parent-reported child EF and child externalizing behavior (p <.01). Further, T1D-specific conflict moderated the positive association between parent-reported child EF and child externalizing behaviors (p <.05). Early screening of child EF, externalizing behavior, and family conflict may be particularly important in the recent-onset period of T1D. The introduction of T1D-related conflict after diagnosis may impact child externalizing behavior and limited child EF skills that pre-date diagnosis.