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Childhood ADHD Symptoms, Parent Emotion Socialization, and Adolescent Peer Problems: Indirect Effects Through Emotion Dysregulation

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Abstract

Although parent reactions to children’s negative emotions are important to the development of adolescent social and emotional functioning, there is a lack of research examining this aspect of parenting in samples that include youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study addresses this gap in the research by examining the independent effects of childhood ADHD symptoms and parent reactions to negative emotions in the longitudinal prediction of adolescent emotion dysregulation and peer problems. A sample of 124 youth (52% female) with and without clinical elevations in ADHD symptoms were assessed in childhood (8–12 years; M = 10.50) and followed up 5–6 years later in adolescence (13–18 years; M = 16.15). Path models tested the direct effects of childhood ADHD symptoms, supportive parent reactions, and non-supportive parent reactions on adolescent peer problems (friendship quality, deviant peer affiliation, peer aggression) and the indirect effects via adolescent emotion dysregulation. Emotion dysregulation mediated the effects of greater ADHD symptoms and of less parent supportive reactions on adolescent peer problems; parent reactions also independently predicted specific adolescent peer problems. Even for youth with clinical elevations in ADHD symptoms, parent reactions to children’s negative emotions may be important in understanding adolescent emotion dysregulation and peer problems.

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Notes

  1. For adolescents 18 years or older, full symptom count for ADHD was based on displaying 5 symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

  2. Respondents rated children’s unmediated behavior, with the exception of teacher ratings for 12 children, which were based on the child’s medicated behavior because they were either unaware that the child took medication for ADHD or had never observed the child unmedicated. For 22 participants, ADHD symptom ratings were based only on parent report because the teacher declined to complete the rating scale.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the families and teachers who generously participated in this study. We would also like to Acknowledge Angelina Gomez, Rebecca Zakarian, Kristy Larsen, and Taylor Penzil who played an important role in collecting the data.

Funding

This study was funded by internal Amherst College start-up funds awarded to the first author.

Data Sharing and Declaration

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Amherst College, Amherst, USA

    Julia D. McQuade, Arianna E. Mordy & Daria Taubin

  2. Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA

    Rosanna Breaux

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Contributions

M conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, and drafted the manuscript; RB participated in the design and helped to draft the manuscript; AE participated in the coordination of the study and performed the measurement; DT participated in the coordination of the study and performed the measurement. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Julia D. McQuade.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Amherst College institutional research board (IRB# 13-202 and IRB#19-016).

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McQuade, J.D., Breaux, R., Mordy, A.E. et al. Childhood ADHD Symptoms, Parent Emotion Socialization, and Adolescent Peer Problems: Indirect Effects Through Emotion Dysregulation. J Youth Adolescence 50, 2519–2532 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01510-3

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