Are There Resilient Children with ADHD?

Abstract

Objective: The adverse outcomes associated with ADHD are well known, but less is known about the minority of children with ADHD who may be flourishing despite this neurodevelopmental risk. The present multi-informant study is an initial step in this direction with the basic but unanswered question: Are there resilient children with ADHD? Method: Reliable change analysis of the BASC-3 Resiliency subscale for a clinically evaluated sample of 206 children with and without ADHD (ages 8–13; 81 girls; 66.5% White/Non-Hispanic). Results Most children with ADHD are perceived by their parents and teachers as resilient (52.8%–59.2%), with rates that did not differ from the comorbidity-matched Non-ADHD sample. Conclusion Exploratory analyses highlighted the importance of identifying factors that promote resilience for children with ADHD specifically, such that some child characteristics were promotive (associated with resilience for both groups), some were protective (associated with resilience only for children with ADHD), and some were beneficial only for children without ADHD.

Sense of Coherence is Associated with Functional Impairment in Individuals Diagnosed with ADHD

“…The study suggests that the anti-social behavior and mental health problems stemming from ADHD are a product of the interaction between ADHD symptoms and a personal factor, namely SOC. This finding is consistent with the growing trend in the research literature calling for examining resilience factors for the risks for functional impairments associated with ADHD (Chan et al, 2021;Climie & Mastoras, 2015;Davis, 2014;Duh-Leong et al, 2020;Dvorsky & Langberg, 2016;Freire et al, 2021;Fuller-Thomson et al, 2022;Giannotta & Rydell, 2016;Jia et al, 2021;Lasky et al, 2016;Lee et al, 2016;Lesch, 2018;Sedgwick et al, 2019;Schoenfelder, 2016).…”

“…Tools are needed to help identify subgroups within this population that are at increased risk of comorbidities with various disorders. Additionally, in the research literature, much is known about risk factors for ADHD functional impairments and little is known about the protective factors (Chan et al, 2021;Climie & Mastoras, 2015;Davis, 2014;Duh-Leong et al, 2020;Dvorsky & Langberg, 2016;Freire et al, 2021;Fuller-Thomson et al, 2022;Giannotta & Rydell, 2016;Jia et al, 2021;Lasky et al, 2016;Lee et al, 2016;Lesch, 2018;Sedgwick et al, 2019;Schoenfelder, 2016). The present study focuses on examining the contribution of the protective factor "sense of coherence" in reducing the relationship between ADHD and a variety of functional impairments: antisocial behavior, substance abuse, emotional distress and low happiness, among different age groups.…”

Is reduced social competence a mechanism linking elevated autism spectrum symptoms with increased risk for social anxiety?

“…This process affected 0.10% of data points. Teacher‐reported social competence scores and child‐reported overall anxiety symptoms for subsets of the sample were reported in separate manuscripts to investigate conceptually unrelated hypotheses (Aduen et al, 2018; Chan et al, 2022; Kofler et al, 2018). Child‐reported social anxiety symptoms and parent‐reported autism spectrum symptoms have not been previously reported for any children in the current sample.…”

Parent and Child-Reported Strengths of Children With ADHD

“…In a recent study, parents of 8- to 13-year-olds were asked to quantitatively report if they perceived their child with ADHD as being resilient (i.e., able to withstand adversity), as well as if their child’s resilience was similar to the levels of resilience demonstrated by children without ADHD (Chan et al, 2022). Resilience in this context was measured using the Resiliency subscales on the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, third edition (BASC-3).…”