1 - (SYM 2) the Day-to-day Peer Interactions of Female Adolescents with and Without ADHD

Objective: The goal of this study was to collect ecological momentary assessment of peer functioning in early adolescent female youth with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to explore group differences in the type and quality of peer interactions. It was hypothesized that youth with ADHD would report fewer peer interactions and lower quality peer interactions compared to youth without ADHD.

Methods: Female youth (11-14 years old) with (n=36) and without (n=43) completed daily ratings of their social functioning with peers over 14 days. Youth rated whether they spent time with peers in person, through social media, or not at all during that interval. They also reported the quality on their prosocial and hostile interactions with peers. Linear mixed effects models were conducted and included interaction terms between ADHD status and rating periods (i.e., weekends versus weekdays, summer break versus during school).

Results: In the first week, 93.7% of the sample, and in the second week 63.3% of the sample completed daily ratings; completion was not associated with ADHD status. Overall, group differences did not emerge in the amount of time spent with friends (via social media or in person), time alone, or for the overall level of prosocial and hostile behavior. However, on weekends, youth with ADHD were less likely than youth without ADHD to interact with peers on social media (b=-.14, p< .05). Additionally, during the school year compared to summer break, youth with ADHD reported more in person (b=.24, p< .05) and social media peer interactions (b=.22, p< .05) compared to youth without ADHD. A trend emerged showing youth with ADHD were more likely than youth without ADHD to be alone during summer break (b=.17, p=.06) compared to during the school year. Additionally, youth with ADHD reported more negative (b=.30, p=.08) and more prosocial (b=.53, p=.06) peer interactions during the school year compared to during summer break.

Discussion: These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using EMA to examine the peer interactions of youth with ADHD, and highlight the importance of assessing how and when these interactions occur in order to guide ecologically valid intervention efforts.