Health Psychology, Vol 45(4), Apr 2026, 367-372; doi:10.1037/hea0001550
Objective: The objective of this study was to examine how diabetes-related emotional distress and depressive symptoms are uniquely related to objective measures of glycemic outcomes in people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Existing research demonstrates that diabetes distress is better able to account for glycemic outcomes when compared to depressive symptoms. However, few studies have focused on this comparison when assessing glycemic outcomes using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) indices specifically in T2DM populations. Method: Sixty-three adults diagnosed with T2DM were recruited from an outpatient endocrinology clinic. Diabetes-related emotional distress and depressive symptoms were assessed via self-report measures. Glycemic outcomes were measured using the gold standard hemoglobin A1c and 7 days of CGM data (measuring both glucose concentration levels and variation). The relationship between diabetes-related emotional distress (operationalized as a latent factor), depressive symptomatology, and glycemic outcome metrics (i.e., hemoglobin A1c and CGM-based) was evaluated using structural equation modeling. Results: Moderate-sized associations were observed between diabetes-related emotional distress and a majority of the glycemic outcome metrics when controlling for depressive symptoms. No associations were observed between depressive symptoms and glycemic outcome metrics when controlling for diabetes-related emotional distress. Conclusions: The findings suggest that following a T2DM diagnosis, diabetes-related emotional distress is better able to account for variance in glycemic outcomes when compared to depressive symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)