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Rates of peer victimization in young adolescents with ADHD and associations with internalizing symptoms and self-esteem

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Abstract

The purposes of the present study were to: (1) describe rates of peer victimization in young adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, (2) evaluate the association between types of peer victimization (i.e., physical, relational, and reputational) and internalizing problems (i.e., anxiety, depression, and self-esteem), and (3) examine whether associations between victimization and internalizing problems differ for males or females. Participants were 131 middle-school students (ages 11–15 years, 73 % male, 76 % White) diagnosed with ADHD who completed ratings of victimization, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Over half of the participants (57 %) reported experiencing at least one victimization behavior at a rate of once per week or more, with higher rates of relational victimization (51 %) than reputational victimization (17 %) or physical victimization (14 %). Males reported experiencing more physical victimization than females, but males and females did not differ in rates of relational or reputational victimization. Whereas relational and physical victimization were both uniquely associated with greater anxiety for both males and females, relational victimization was associated with greater depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem for males but not females. These findings indicate that young adolescents with ADHD frequently experience peer victimization and that the association between victimization and internalizing problems among young adolescents with ADHD differs as a result of victimization type, internalizing domain, and sex.

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Notes

  1. This pattern differed somewhat for males and females. When paired samples t tests were conducted separately by sex, females reported experiencing more relational victimization and reputational victimization than overt victimization scores (t = 3.14, df = 34, p = .003 and t = 3.49, df = 34, p = .001, respectively), whereas there was no difference between females’ relational and reputational victimization scores (t = −.25, df = 34, p = .81) (i.e., the same pattern as the full sample analyses). Similar to females, males reported experiencing more relational victimization than overt victimization (t = 2.14, df = 95, p = .04). However, in contrast to females, males also reported experiencing more relational victimization than reputational victimization (t = 2.08, df = 95, p = .04) and similar levels of physical and reputational victimization (t = −.41, df = 95, p = .68).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants to Steven W. Evans and Joshua M. Langberg from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R01MH082864, R01MH082865). Stephen P. Becker is supported by award number K23MH108603 from the NIMH. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Becker, S.P., Mehari, K.R., Langberg, J.M. et al. Rates of peer victimization in young adolescents with ADHD and associations with internalizing symptoms and self-esteem. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 26, 201–214 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0881-y

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