Brief report: friendships of adolescents with and without diabetes.
BACKGROUND
Friendships of adolescents with chronic illness have been rarely studied.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the friendships of boys and girls with diabetes with those between healthy adolescents.


METHODS
One hundred and thirty-eight adolescents were interviewed at summer camps. Participants indicated their number of close friends and rated friendships for support and conflict. Participants described aspects of their same-sex and other-sex friendships that they liked and disliked.


RESULTS
Adolescents with diabetes have friendships that are similar to those between healthy adolescents, with a few exceptions.


CONCLUSIONS
Emotional support may be especially valued by girls with diabetes, whereas differences among friends may be less valued among adolescents with diabetes.
Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA. vh2e@andrew.cmu.edu
Vicki S
VS
Helgeson
Kerry A
KA
Reynolds
Adam
A
Shestak
Stephanie
S
Wei
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010414:Pennsylvania; D012737:Sex Factors