Risk and Protective Factors for Peer Victimization in Adolescents with ADHD

ABSTRACT

Youth with ADHD are more at-risk for peer victimization than their typically developing peers, and may not be benefiting from current interventions. Thus, we sought to examine risk (i.e., anxiety, depression, and forms of aggression) and protective (i.e., social skills and social acceptance) factors for peer victimization in this group. Participants were 123 young adolescents diagnosed with ADHD, who were attending grades six through eight. We found that relational aggression (i.e., excluding others from activities) and anxiety symptoms were among the strongest risk factors for victimization. Anxiety symptoms were associated with victimization over and above depressive symptoms. Social acceptance buffered risk conferred by the risk factors. Future work is needed to investigate the degree to which the relations among internalizing symptoms and victimization differ in youth with ADHD relative to typically developing youth, and assess causality of the relations.

KEYWORDS:

• ADHD
• victimization
• risk and resilience
• anxiety
• depression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a research grant awarded to SWE and JML from the National Institute of Mental Health [R01MH082864 & R01MH082865)].

Notes on contributors

W. John Monopoli

W. John Monopoli is a a graduate student at Ohio University. His research interests include better understanding social functioning processes in adolescence, and specifically, understanding the role of emotion regulation in these processes.

Samantha M. Margherio

Samantha M. Margherio is a graduate student at Ohio University. Her research interests include etiology of and interventions for health risk behaviors in adolescents.

Steven W. Evans

Steven W. Evans is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Ohio University and Co-Director of the Center for Intervention Research in Schools. His research is focused on the development and evaluation of school-based interventions for adolescents with ADHD and related emotional and behavioral problems.

Joe Xiang

Joe Xiang is a graduate student at Ohio University. His research interests include the development, evaluation, and implementation of school-based interventions for children and adolescents with ADHD.

Megan A. Brickner

Megan A. Brickner is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her research interests include emotion dysregulation, substance use, and social relations.

Joshua M. Langberg

Joshua M. Langberg is a licensed clinical psychologist, Professor of Psychology, and Associate Dean for Research at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He received his Ph.D. in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina in 2006 and completed pre-doctoral internship at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Langberg started his career at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), transitioned to VCU in 2011. He is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications has served as the principal investigator on several grant awards from NIMH and IES. His clinical and research interests focus on improving the academic and behavioral functioning of youth with ADHD and the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices in school settings.