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32 Effects of Emotion Regulation and Emotional Lability/Negativity on Academic Achievement Among Youth With and Without ADHD
- Kathleen E. Feeney, Stephanie S. J. Morris, Karissa DiMarzio, Rosario Pintos Lobo, Katherine Schmarder, Garcia Susana, Erica D. Musser
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 821-822
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Objective:
Youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), characterized by symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity, often experience challenges with emotion regulation (ER) and/or emotional lability/negativity (ELN).1-3 Prior work has shown that difficulties with ER and ELN among young children contribute to lower academic achievement.4-6 To date, research examining associations between ADHD and academic achievement have primarily focused on the roles of inattentive symptoms and executive functioning.7-8 However, preliminary work among youth with ADHD suggests significant associations between disruptions in emotional functioning and poor academic outcomes.9-10 The current study will examine associations between ER, ELN, and specific subdomains of academic achievement (i.e., reading, spelling, math) among youth with and without ADHD.
Participants and Methods:Forty-six youth (52% male; Mage=9.52 years; 76.1% Hispanic/Latino; 21 with ADHD) and their parents were recruited as part of an ongoing study. Parents completed the Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale11 and Emotion Regulation Checklist12 about their child. Youth completed the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-II13 and three subtests [Spelling (SP), Numerical Operations (NO), Word Reading (WR)] of the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-III.14 Univariate analysis of variance assessed differences in emotional functioning and academic achievement among youth with and without ADHD. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between emotional factors and the three subtests of academic achievement.
Results:Youth with ADHD exhibited significantly higher ELN (M=30.7, SD=8.7) compared to their peers (M=23.2, SD=5.8), when controlling for child age, sex, and diagnoses of conduct disorder and/or oppositional defiant disorder [F(1,41)=8.96, p<.01, ŋp2=.18]. With respect to ER, youth with (M=24.8, SD=4.2) and without ADHD (M=25.8, SD=4.3) did not differ [F(1,41)=.51, p=.48]. Surprisingly, within this sample, ADHD diagnostic status was not significantly associated with performance on any of the academic achievement subtests [WR: F(1,41)=.29, p=.59; NO: F(1,41)=.91, p=.35; SP: F(1,41)=2.14, p=.15]. Among all youth, ER was significantly associated with WR (r=.31, p=.04) and SP (r=.35, p=.02), whereas ELN was associated with performance on NO (r=-.30, p=.04). When controlling for child age, sex, IQ, and ER within the full sample, higher ELN was associated with lower scores on the NO subtest (b=-.56, SE=.26, p=.04). The associations between higher ER and WR scores (b=1.12, SE=.51, p=.03), as well as higher ER and SP scores (b=1.47, SE=.56, p=.01), were significant when controlling for child age and sex, but not ELN and IQ (p=.73 and p=.64, respectively).
Conclusions:As expected, youth with ADHD had higher ELN, although they did not differ from their peers in terms of ER. Results identified distinct associations between ER and higher reading/spelling performance, as well as ELN and lower math performance across all youth. Thus, findings suggest that appropriate emotional coping skills may be most important for reading and spelling, while emotional reactivity appears most salient to math performance outcomes. In particular, ELN may be a beneficial target for intervention, especially with respect to improvement in math problem-solving skills. Future work should account for executive functioning skills, expand the academic achievement domains to include fluency and more complex academic skills, and assess longitudinal pathways within a larger sample.
57 Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences on Depression and Anxiety in Adulthood: Examining the Role of Cognitive Flexibility
- Rosario Pintos Lobo, Alexandria G. Nuccio, Zachary T. Goodman, Stacy S. Merritt, Xiaoyan Sun, Katalina F. McInerney, Bonnie E. Levin
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 842-843
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Objective:
The association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adult depression and anxiety has been well described (Aafjes-van Doorn et al., 2020; Dolbier et al., 2021; Herzog & Schmahl, 2018). However, cognitive flexibility, as a potential moderating factor of this relationship, has been underreported (Kalia et al., 2021). We hypothesize that increased ACEs will be associated with increased symptoms of depression and anxiety, and cognitive flexibility will exhert a moderating role in this relationship.
Participants and Methods:Participants from the Evelyn F. McKnight University of Miami Frailty Registry were included in the study. 224 adults (Mage= 66.30, SD = 11.63; 59.4% female; 62.1% Hispanic/Latinx) without primary neurological disorders were recruited from University of Miami clinics and community centers. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and neuropsychological evaluation including the Adverse Childhood Experiences inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Current data were initially analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlations among variables. A series of hierarchical multiple linear regressions (HLR) were conducted to examine the effect that age has on cognitive flexibility (measured by number of perseverative errors on the WCST), as well as the association between number of ACEs endorsed on symptoms of depression and anxiety in late life.
Results:Correlation analyses revealed a negative correlation between total ACE score and cognitive flexibility (r=-.16, p=0.03); a positive correlation between age and cognitive flexibility (r=0.19, p=0.01); and positive relationships between ACE score and both BDI (r=0.35, p<0.001) and BAI (r=0.28, p<0.001) scores. Correlations further revealed a negative correlation between cognitive flexibility and both BDI (r=-0.18, p=0.014) and BAI (r=-0.14, p=0.048) scores. A series of hierarchical multiple linear regressions revealed that total number of ACEs had a statistically significant effect on both depression (f=7.24, p<.001, ΔR2=0.072) and anxiety (f=4.57, p<.001, ΔR2=0.044) symptoms, in models adjusted for demographic correlates (i.e., age, sex, race, ethnicity). While the overall moderation model examining the effect of cognitive flexibility on the relationship between ACEs and psychopathology was significant (f=6.04, p<.001, ΔR2=0.191), the interaction was not significant (p=.4199). However, HLRs further revealed a statistically significant effect of age on cognitive flexibility (f=6.77, p=0.01, ΔR2=0.034).
Conclusions:Current findings support past research showing higher number of ACEs are associated with more symptoms of depression and anxiety in later life. However, cognitive flexibility did not moderate the relationship between ACEs and symptoms of depression and anxiery. This suggests cognitive flexibility might not play a significant role in the association between childhood trauma and symptoms of depression and anxiety in later life. Alternatively present results could be attributed to a small sample size, or the specific measure of cognitive flexibility used. This study expands on prior research highlighting the role of cognitive flexibility on age, with age serving as a prominent feature in the association between ACEs and adult depression and anxiety. Further research examining the role of cognitive flexibility in younger and middle years and its association with ACEs and psychopathology may provide unique insights on how to intervene earlier in the life course before cognitive flexibility begins to decline.