Impact of childhood peer rejection on executive function in girl with ADHD

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is linked to both executive function (EF) deficits and peer rejection (PR). Although EF deficits are associated with poor social outcomes, little research has explored the role of peer rejection in the development of later EF(Holmes et al., 2016; Ji et al., 2019; Stenseng et al., 2015). We examine (a) whether PR in childhood predicts long-term EF deficits among women with and without childhood ADHD and (b) whether childhood ADHD diagnosis moderates this association.
Data emanate from a prospective longitudinal investigation of 140 girls with ADHD and 88 age- and ethnicity-matched comparison girls across four waves (mean ages 9.5, 14.2, 19.6, and 25.6 years). PR was assessed by confidential summer-program peer sociometric nominations at baseline. EF was assessed using the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure at Waves 1, 3, and 4, with the parallel Taylor Complex Figure at Wave 2. Family income and age were included as covariates.
Multi-group path analysis was used to model the long-term effects of PR on EF. Four alternative models were proposed.
Model 1: Four paths from PR at baseline predicting EF at each wave; and three paths from EF at previous assessments (starting from baseline) predicting EF at subsequent waves.
Model 2: Model 1 with two additional paths, one from EF at baseline predicting EF at Wave 3 and the other from EF at Wave 2 predicting EF at Wave 4.
Model 3: Model 2 with an additional path from EF at baseline predicting EF at Wave 4.
Model 4: Model 3 with path coefficients allowed to vary between ADHD vs. comparison group status, assuming that ADHD diagnosis moderates these pathways (but not in Models 1, 2, and 3).
Maximum likelihood estimation was used in all models to accommodate for nonnormality and missing data.
Model fit indices, including Chi-square test, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) indicated that Model 3 was the optimal model (χ2 = 22.13, df = 18, p = 0.226, RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.96, SRMR = 0.07). Additionally, the Chi-square difference test revealed that Model 3 was significantly better than Models 1 and 2 (∆χ2 = 6.56, df = 1, p = 0.01) but not from Model 4 (∆χ2 = 22.13, df = 18, p = 0.22). Overall, Model 3 was optimal.
Results from this model indicated that high PR at baseline predicted lower EF at baseline (𝛽 = -0.14, SE = 0.06, p < 0.05), Wave 3 (𝛽 = -0.17 , SE = 0.07, p < 0.05), and Wave 4 (𝛽 = -0.14, SE = 0.07, p < 0.05), adjusting for age and family income. These findings suggest that during childhood, peer rejection is a risk factor for maladaptive EF development in adolescence and adulthood. Such associations were not moderated by childhood ADHD diagnostic status. This provocative finding emphasizes the importance of early peer rejection for later cognitive/executive functions.

Authors

• Yuchen Zhao, University of California - Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• Phuc T Nguyen, University of California - Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephen P Hinshaw, UC Berkeley
  Non-Presenting Author