The Transition to Middle School is Associated with Changes in the Developmental Trajectory of ADHD Symptomatology in Young Adolescents with ADHD
Authors:
Joshua M. Langberg a;
Jeffery N. Epstein a;
Mekibib Altaye a;
Brooke S. G. Molina b;
L. Eugene Arnold c;
Benedetto Vitiello d
| Affiliations: | a Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, |
| b Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, | |
| c Department of Psychiatry, Ohio State University, | |
| d National Institute of Mental Health, |
DOI:
10.1080/15374410802148095
Publication Frequency:
6 issues per year
Published in:
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology,
Volume
37,
Issue
3
July
2008
, pages 651
- 663
Formats available:
HTML
(English)
:
PDF
(English)
Previously published as:
Journal of Clinical Child Psychology
(0047-228X)
until 2001
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Abstract
The attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptom presentation of young adolescents with ADHD was examined in association with the transition to middle school. This study used data collected in the Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD, which included children between 7 and 9 years of age with a diagnosis of ADHD (n = 258) and grade- and sex-matched controls (n = 112). The trajectory of ADHD symptoms before, during, and after the transition to middle school was modeled using hierarchical linear modeling. A clear developmental reduction in ADHD symptomatology was observed for all three ADHD symptom domains. For young adolescents with ADHD, the transition to middle school was associated with a disruption in the developmental decline of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity symptoms as measured by parent ratings. This effect was also observed for teacher ratings of inattention and hyperactivity. These results support the assertion that the environmental changes associated with transitioning to middle school coincide with a transient reversal in ADHD symptom decline among children with ADHD.
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