Six months methylphenidate treatment improves emotion dysregulation in adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a prospective study

Figures & data

Table 1 Comparison of psychometric measures before and after treatment in all cases (mean ± SD)

DERS	Before treatment	After treatment
Non-acceptance	11.0±5.1	9.9±3.8
Goals	15.7±5.5	14.7±5.9
Impulsivity	15.9±6.8	14.2±6.5^**
Awareness	15.7±5.1	15.2±5.2
Strategies	18.2±7.9	16.8±8.0
Clarity	11.7±3.7	11.3±3.9
Total	88.4±23.3	82.4±2.7^*

Note: Significantly different in comparison of initial and final test scores (^*p<0.05, ^**p<0.01).

Abbreviation: DERS, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale.

Table 2 Comparison of the psychometric measures in patients among ADHD subtypes (mean ± SD)

DERS	ADHD-C subtype		ADHD-I subtype
	Before treatment	After treatment	Before treatment	After treatment
Non-acceptance	10.8±4.9	9.6±3.5	11.8±6.4	11.4±4.8
Goals	15.6±5.4	14.1±5.7^*	16.3±6.1	17.6±6.2
Impulsivity	16.3±7.1	14.4±6.7^**	14.0±5.1	13.2±6.0
Awareness	15.6±5.1	15.5±4.9	16.0±5.3	14.0±6.4
Strategies	18.4±8.1	16.8±8.0	11.7±7.1	17.1±8.5
Clarity	11.4±3.9	11.6±4.1	12.0±2.4	10.0±2.3
Total	88.6±24.1	82.1±24.4^*	87.5±20.0	83.6±21.0

Note: Significantly different in comparison of initial and final test scores of the same group (^*p<0.05, ^**p<0.01).

Abbreviations: ADHD, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; ADHD-C, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder combined subtype; ADHD-I, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder inattention subtype; DERS, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale.

Table 3 Comparison of psychometric measures in patients with ODD (mean ± SD)

DERS	Comorbid ODD		Without ODD
	Before treatment	After treatment	Before treatment	After treatment
Non-acceptance	9.2±2.4	9.7±2.5	11.4±5.6	10.0±4.1
Goals	16.8±5.7	16.3±4.1	15.4±5.4	14.3±6.2
Impulsivity	20.3±5.4	17.5±7.3	14.8±6.8^‡‡	13.2±6.1^**,§
Awareness	16.9±5.4	16.7±5.8	15.4±5.0	14.8±5.0
Strategies	20.3±9.5	20.6±8.8	17.7±7.5	15.8±7.5^*,§
Clarity	12.3±3.5	12.8±3.7	11.6±3.7	10.8±3.9
Total	96.0±21.9	94.0±21.6	86.6±23.5	79.1±23.5^**,§

Notes: Significantly different in comparison of initial and final test scores of the same group (^*p<0.05, ^**p<0.01). Significantly different in comparison of initial test scores of patients with or without comorbid ODD (^‡‡p<0.01). Significantly different in comparison of final test scores of patients with or without comorbid ODD (^§p<0.05).

Abbreviations: ODD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder; DERS, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation.

Table 4 Comparison of psychometric measures before and after treatment in smokers vs non-smokers (mean ± SD)

DERS	Smokers		Non-smokers
	Before treatment	After treatment	Before treatment	After treatment
Non-acceptance	11.2±4.3	10.8±4.0	10.9±5.5	9.6±3.7
Goals	18.7±4.6	15.8±5.9	14.5±5.4^‡‡	14.2±5.9
Impulsivity	21.0±5.7	18.7±7.0^*	13.9±6.2^‡‡‡	12.3±5.4^*,§§§
Awareness	16.7±5.4	16.0±5.3	15.3±4.9	14.8±5.2
Strategies	22.1±7.9	21.5±8.2	16.7±7.5^‡‡	14.8±7.2^*,§§§
Clarity	13.0±4.1	13.0±3.5	11.3±3.4	10.6±3.9^§
Total	103.0±18.7	96.0±2.7	82.8±22.6^‡‡‡	76.6±22.0^*,§§

Notes: Significantly different in comparison of initial and final test scores of the same group (^*p<0.05). Significantly different in comparison of initial test scores of smoker and non-smoker patients (^‡‡p<0.01, ^‡‡‡p<0.001). Significantly different in comparison of final test scores of smoker and non-smoker patients (^§p<0.05, ^§§p<0.01, ^§§§p<0.001).

Abbreviation: DERS, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation.

Table 5 Comparison of psychometric measures before and after treatment in patients with NSSI (mean ± SD)

DERS	History of NSSI		Without history of NSSI
	Before treatment	After treatment	Before treatment	After treatment
Non-acceptance	11.6±5.2	10.4±3.9	10.0±5.0	9.3±3.7
Goals	17.4±5.2	15.5±6.1	13.3±5.0^‡‡‡	13.7±5.5
Impulsivity	18.2±5.8	16.2±6.4^*	12.7±7.0^‡‡‡	11.3±5.7^*,§§
Awareness	15.7±5.4	15.2±5.4	15.7±4.7	15.2±5.0
Strategies	20.6±8.2	18.1±8.3	14.9±6.3^‡‡	15.0±7.3
Clarity	12.6±3.4	12.0±4.1	10.5±3.7^‡‡	10.3±3.5
Total	96.3±20.7	87.7±24.5^*	77.2±22.4^‡‡‡	75.1±20.9^§

Notes: Significantly different in comparison of initial and final test scores of the same group (^*p<0.05). Significantly different in comparison of initial test scores of patients with or without a history of NSSI (^‡‡p<0.01, ^‡‡‡p<0.001). Significantly different in comparison of final test scores of patients with or without a history of NSSI (^§p<0.05, ^§§p<0.01).

Abbreviations: NSSI, non-suicidal self-injury; DERS, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation.

Table 6 Comparison of the psychometric measures of patients with and without a history of maltreatment (mean ± SD)

DERS	History of maltreatment		Without history of maltreatment
	Before treatment	After treatment	Before treatment	After treatment
Non-acceptance	12.4±6.2	10.0±3.9	10.4±4.6	9.9±3.8
Goals	17.7±4.9	14.8±6.3^*	14.9±5.5^‡	14.6±5.7
Impulsivity	21.2±5.2	16.8±6.8^*	13.8±6.3^‡‡‡	12.8±6.1^§
Awareness	16.2±6.6	15.2±5.4	15.5±4.4	15.2±5.1
Strategies	23.2±7.6	17.5±7.2^*	16.3±7.3^‡‡‡	16.5±8.5
Clarity	13.2±4.4	11.8±4.0	11.2±3.2	11.0±3.8
Total	104.2±20.1	86.5±23.5^*	82.3±21.7^‡‡‡	80.2±23.8

Notes: Significantly different in comparison of initial and final test scores of the same group (^*p<0.05). Significantly different in comparison of initial test scores of patients with or without a history of maltreatment (^‡p<0.05, ^‡‡‡p<0.001). Significantly different in comparison of final test scores of patients with or without a history of maltreatment. (^§p<0.05).

Abbreviation: DERS, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation.