Bullying and Peer Victimisation in Adolescent Girls with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

Emerging evidence suggests that adolescent girls with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are more socially impaired compared with their peers; however, research has yet to elucidate the nature of this impairment. We investigated overt (e.g., physical, such as hitting or kicking or verbal, such as teasing and taunting) and relational (e.g., social manipulation, such as social exclusion) bullying and victimisation in adolescent girls with and without ADHD. Adolescent girls (mean age = 15.11) with (n = 22) and without (n = 20) ADHD and their primary caregivers completed measures of overt/relational bullying and victimisation and social impairment. Adolescent girls with ADHD experienced more social problems and more relational and overt victimisation than adolescent girls without ADHD. Although adolescent girls with ADHD engaged in more overt and relational bullying than adolescent girls without ADHD, this difference was not statistically significant. Oppositional Defiant Disorder symptoms appeared to be more strongly related to bullying behaviour, while victimisation appeared to be more strongly related to ADHD.

Childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Predicts Intimate Partner Victimization in Young Women

“…It also utilized a rigorously diagnosed, well-characterized and well-retained, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample. Findings extend previous research by showing that the increased levels of interpersonal dysfunction and victimization among children and adolescents with ADHD (e.g., Blachman & Hinshaw, 2002; Sciberras et al, 2012; Zalecki & Hinshaw, 2004) persist in the form of physical violence in intimate relationships by early adulthood. In addition, to our knowledge, findings comprise the first evidence regarding physical IPV victimization in women with childhood ADHD, as previous studies examining the IPV-ADHD linkage have focused strictly on IPV perpetration, mostly in males (Fang et al, 2010; Theriault & Holmberg, 2001; Wymbs et al, 2012).…”

“…For instance, Blachman and Hinshaw (2002) found that school-aged girls with ADHD experienced higher levels of peer conflict and relational aggression than comparison girls (see also Zalecki & Hinshaw, 2004). Sciberras and colleagues (2012) found that adolescent girls with ADHD experienced more overt and relational bullying and peer victimization compared to those without ADHD. Peer relationship dysfunction in youth has been found to be primarily attributable to ADHD rather than to comorbidities, such as oppositional defiant disorder or anxiety disorders (Hoza et al, 2005).…”

Increased dopamine transporter function as a mechanism for dopamine hypoactivity in the adult infralimbic medial prefrontal cortex following adolescent social stress

“…For example, preclinical research demonstrates that repeated amphetamine treatment at low doses (1.0 mg/kg) normalizes adult deficits in both behavioral and mPFC DA responses to amphetamine challenge following adolescent social defeat (Burke et al, 2013), which may be related to the reported effect of chronic psychostimulant treatment in decreasing mPFC DAT function (Harvey et al, 2011). Moreover, psychostimulants including amphetamine are routinely given clinically for treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), one of the disorders associated with bullying victimization (Holmberg and Hjern, 2008; Kumpulainen, 2008; Sciberras et al, 2012), and their administration at low doses improves mPFC DA-dependent cognitive task performance in ADHD patients (Arnsten, 2006). Psychostimulants primarily exert their pharmacological effect by blocking catecholamine transporters (NET and DAT; Arnsten, 2006; Fleckenstein et al, 2007).…”

Peer victimization in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

“…9 Özellikle DEHB'li kızlar zorbalığa uğramak konu-sunda daha fazla risk altındadır. 10,11 Literatürde DEHB'li çocuklarda klinik örneklemde yapılmış zorbalık araştırmasına rastlanmamıştır. Literatürde tanı konusunda yapılandırılmış klinik görüşmelerden ölçekler ve geriye dönük kayıtlardan faydalanıl-mıştır.…”