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Sustained Impact of Inattention and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity on Peer Problems: Mediating Roles of Prosocial Skills and Conduct Problems in a Community Sample of Children

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Abstract

This prospective 2-year longitudinal study tested whether inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptom dimensions predicted future peer problems, when accounting for concurrent conduct problems and prosocial skills. A community sample of 492 children (49 % female) who ranged in age from 6 to 10 years (M = 8.6, SD = .93) was recruited. Teacher reports of children’s inattention, and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, conduct problems, prosocial skills and peer problems were collected in two consecutive school years. Elevated inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in Year-1 predicted greater peer problems in Year-2. Conduct problems in the first and second years of the study were associated with more peer problems, and explained a portion of the relationship between inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity with peer problems. However, prosocial skills were associated with fewer peer problems in children with elevated inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity have negative effects on children’s peer functioning after 1-year, but concurrent conduct problems and prosocial skills have important and opposing impacts on these associations.

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Notes

  1. Note: Although more complex analyses are possible for a nested design, a simpler design that lends itself to more straightforward interpretation was chosen. We are confident that nesting of data did not have a major impact on the findings given that teacher’s ratings of inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, conduct problems and prosocial skills showed stability from Years 1 to 2, despite children being rated by different teachers. As such, it is reasonable to assume that the nested design structure did not bias the obtained findings.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded in part by a Social Sciences and Research Council Grant #410-2008-1052 [RT], the Canada Research Chairs program [RT], a CIHR Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Training Program (CCHCSP) Career Development Award [BA], and New Investigator Fellowship with the Ontario Mental Health Foundation [BA].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child, Youth and Family Service, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 80 Workman Way, 1st Floor, Toronto, ON, M6J 1H4, Canada

    Brendan F. Andrade

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Brendan F. Andrade

  3. Ontario Institutes for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Rosemary Tannock

  4. Neurosciences and Mental Health Research Program, Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, ON, M5G1X8, Canada

    Rosemary Tannock

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  1. Brendan F. Andrade
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  2. Rosemary Tannock
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Correspondence to Brendan F. Andrade.

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Andrade, B.F., Tannock, R. Sustained Impact of Inattention and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity on Peer Problems: Mediating Roles of Prosocial Skills and Conduct Problems in a Community Sample of Children. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 45, 318–328 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-013-0402-x

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