Poster #225 - In-Person and Cyber Victimization among Adolescents with ADHD: Links to Anxiety, Depression, and Self-Esteem

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Background: Although youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience more victimization than their typically developing peers, few studies have examined cyber victimization in adolescents with ADHD. There is also a paucity of research examining rates of cyber victimization and in-person victimization within the same sample and how each form of peer victimization is uniquely related to internalizing symptoms and self-esteem.
Objective: The purposes of the present study were to: (1) compare rates of cyber victimization and in-person peer victimization among adolescents with ADHD, and (2) evaluate the types of peer victimization (i.e., cyber victimization and in-person victimization) in relation to internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety, depression) and self-esteem.
Methods: Participants were 78 adolescents (ages 13-17, 71% male, 78% White) diagnosed with ADHD who completed ratings of cyber victimization, in-person victimization, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Parents of adolescents completed ratings of anxiety and depression.
Results: Adolescents reported experiencing higher rates of in-person victimization (64%) than cyber victimization (23%), with 22% of participants reporting that they have experienced both in-person and cyber victimization in the previous month. Controlling for age, sex, stimulant medication use, and ADHD symptom severity, cyber victimization was associated with greater adolescent- and parent-reported depressive symptoms whereas in-person victimization was associated with greater adolescent-reported anxiety symptoms. Cyber victimization and in-person victimization were both independently associated with lower self-esteem.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that cyber victimization and in-person victimization occur frequently and at different rates among adolescents with ADHD. Although both are associated with lower self-esteem, experiences of cyber victimization and in-person victimization may uniquely contribute to comorbid internalizing symptoms in adolescents with ADHD.

Authors

• Nicholas D Fogleman, Cincinnati Children's Hospital
  Presenting Author

• Julia D. McQuade, Amherst College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Krista R Mehari, University of South Alabama
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephen P. Becker, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
  Non-Presenting Author