**6. Conclusion**

In this study, the importance of family factors (family support and parental coping) become evident on diabetes outcomes. As a result, it is important to include parents on intervention programs regarding diabetes in adolescence, School support is also an important factor and future studies should address how peers, teachers and school environment may help or hinder adherence, metabolic control and quality of life. According to results, psychological interventions should be included in the treatment protocol of adolescents receiving medical treatment.

Adolescents and parents' illness representations were predictors of adherence, metabolic control and quality of life, showing the importance of these constructs on diabetes outcomes and should, therefore, be included in intervention programs. Future studies should address how contradictory illness representations between parents and adolescents impact diabetes outcomes particularly if the adolescent perceives parents as intrusive trying to force their diabetes' representations on them.

It would be also interesting to assess family functioning from the adolescent point of view, besides parents' perspective (the only one addressed in the present study) and find out whether parents and adolescents' different perspectives, regarding family functioning, may impact diabetes outcomes.
