Sabrina Arassi, “The Effects of ADHD Symptoms and Medication Use on Internalizing Symptoms in Preadolescents”
Mentor: Krista Lisdahl, Psychology, Letters & Science (College of)
Poster #68
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Some studies have also reported increased internalizing symptoms in children with ADHD, particularly in those with symptoms of inattention, sluggish cognitive tempo, and social self-perceptual biases. This study aimed to examine the relationship between ADHD symptoms, ADHD medication usage, and how they interact to affect internalizing symptoms (anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms) in a large cohort of children. The sample consists of 10,590 participants (Mean age = 11.39 years, SD = 1.30, 48.1% female) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Parents responded to questionnaires about their child’s medication use, sociodemographic background, and reported on their youth’s internalizing and ADHD symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist. A MANCOVA analysis was conducted to examine the links between ADHD symptoms, medication use, and their interaction in relation to internalizing symptoms. Findings revealed that main effects for ADHD symptoms and medications were significant across all three internalizing symptoms (all ps<.001). We also found a significant effect of the interaction between ADHD symptoms and medication use on the multivariate pattern of internalizing symptoms [Pillai’s Trace= .001, F(6,78404)= 7.329, p<.001]; post-hoc analyses revealed that the interaction was significant for anxiety [F(1,39217), p<.001] and depression [F(2,39216), p<.001]. Visual analysis demonstrated that those who were not medicated and those on ADHD medications had lower internalizing symptoms than those who were on other non-ADHD medications. Our findings suggest that ADHD symptoms and medication use interact and relate to increased internalizing symptomology, highlighting the importance of taking a holistic approach to ADHD treatment and considering the broader psychopathology in ADHD medication maintenance. Future longitudinal studies are needed to examine the potential causal impact of ADHD medication and extent of ADHD symptoms on internalizing symptoms during late childhood and early adolescence.