(PS1-C58) A Prospective Follow-up Investigation of Females with Childhood-diagnosed ADHD in Their Mid-thirties: Examining the Role of Emotion Dysregulation

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental disorder commonly diagnosed in childhood, has been associated with a range of negative outcomes in childhood, adolescence, and more recently young adulthood (e.g., suicide, intimate partner violence, etc.; Hinshaw et al., 2022). A growing body of research has demonstrated that functional impairment for individuals with childhood-diagnosed ADHD persists beyond young adulthood (i.e., twenties) into later adulthood (i.e., thirties and forties; Cherkasova et al., 2022), yet this research is limited.
 

We aim to fill this gap by leveraging data from a diverse (47% non-white) sample of females with (n = 140) and without (n = 88) childhood-diagnosed ADHD followed prospectively from childhood through to their mid-thirties. Our first aim is to examine functional outcomes (self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, intimate partner violence, and overall functional impairment) of females with childhood-diagnosed ADHD now assessed in their mid-30’s. We predict ongoing impairment in the domains of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, domestic violence, overall functional impairment, and some self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (i.e., continued suicidal ideation).
 

Our second aim is to examine the mediating role of emotion dysregulation, which is commonly associated with ADHD and may contribute to the disorder’s associated functional impairments, in the relation between childhood ADHD symptoms and key domains of functioning in adulthood. We predict that emotion dysregulation will mediate the relation between childhood ADHD and functional impairment assessed when women are in their mid-30s.
 

Finally, to maximize the practical implications of this research and inform future research directions, exploratory analyses will examine which dimensions of emotion regulation further explain this relation. Statistical analyses will be performed with RStudio. For aim one, a series of linear regressions will test whether dimensions of childhood ADHD were independently associated with our outcome variables of interest. We will calculate effect sizes of Cohen’s d for categorical variables and R2 for continuous variables. We will also test associations when adjusting for sociodemographic covariates (baseline SES, participant race/ethnicity, and participant age), using linear regressions.
 

For multiple mediation analyses in aims two and three, we will use the bootstrapping procedure detailed by Shrout and Bolger (2002) and Preacher and Hayes (2008), replicating statistical methodology previously used in our laboratory (e.g., Swanson et al., 2014; Meza et al., 2016). We will interpret our findings in the context of recent literature and provide recommendations for clinical intervention.