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Factors Associated with Healthy and Impaired Social Functioning in Young Adolescents with ADHD

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Abstract

There is variability in the extent to which adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit social impairment, as the same diagnosis does not necessarily entail impairment in the same area(s) of functioning. The current study entailed a cross-sectional examination of enhancers to healthy social functioning and risk factors to parent- and self-rated social impairment in 324 middle school youth (ages 10–14 years) with ADHD. A series of binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to evaluate a risk-resilience model for social functioning, including testing compensatory (i.e., main; buffering) and protective (i.e., interaction) effects of enhancers in the presence of identified risk factors. Youth conduct problems, youth depression, and negative parenting emerged as risk factors. Self-rated social acceptance, activity participation (breadth and intensity), and parent involvement were enhancers of healthy social functioning. Of these enhancers, activity participation (breadth and intensity) and parent involvement showed buffering effects against the negative impact of the risk factors on social functioning. None of the enhancers displayed protective effects. The findings of this study enhance our understanding of the social functioning of young adolescents with ADHD, who comprise an understudied population relative to younger children with similar problems.

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Notes

  1. Correlations among enhancers ranged from 0.03 to 0.58 and among risk factors ranged from 0.004 to 0.70. Medium-sized correlations were expected for parenting variables and the disruptive behavior symptoms, but because different facets of these constructs were of interest in this study, these variables were kept. Multicollinearity is indicated when correlations are in the 0.80 or 0.90 range (Field 2013). In our study, all correlations were under 0.70 with most of them being lower than 0.30. Significant correlations between enhancing/risk factors and the social skills variables ranged from 0.12 to 0.35.

  2. In logistic regression the percentage of correct classification of cases is considered the best representation of goodness of fit (Hair et al. 2010).

  3. The PCC (percentage of correct classification) represents the classification accuracy rate that is 25 % greater than chance. The PCC represents the threshold to be met or surpassed by the actual/observed percentage of correct classification of cases in each analysis. With one exception, all analyses in this study fulfilled this criterion.

  4. This is the exception mentioned in the previous footnote. The correct classification of cases in this analysis is 14 % above chance, rather than the recommended 25 %.

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Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Julie Sarno Owens, Ph.D., Brian T. Wymbs, Ph.D., and Nora Bunford, Ph.D. for feedback on early drafts of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to A. Raisa Ray.

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This research was supported by a grant to the second and third authors from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R01MH082864 & R01MH082865). The contents of this article do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute of Health and do not imply endorsement by the federal government.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ray, A.R., Evans, S.W. & Langberg, J.M. Factors Associated with Healthy and Impaired Social Functioning in Young Adolescents with ADHD. J Abnorm Child Psychol 45, 883–897 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-016-0217-x

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