Associations Between Familial Factors and Emotion Regulation Among Preadolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: An ABCD Study®

Background: Previous work has identified associations between maladaptive familial factors and risk for emotion regulation (ER) challenges among youth. Youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been found to be particularly susceptible to ER challenges. Preadolescence is a key period during which changes in ER emerge, yet it remains understudied with respect to factors that impact ER among youth with ADHD, specifically. Methods: The current study leveraged Morris and colleagues’ (2007) tripartite model of parental influence on child ER to examine the salience of familial factors (i.e., parent ER, parental warmth, family conflict) on child ER as assessed via the Child Behavior Checklist Dysregulation Profile. Participants were 953 youth who met ADHD diagnostic criteria and their counterparts with fewer than four total ADHD symptoms (N=4,371) who completed the baseline visit of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development StudySM. Results: Youth with ADHD experienced lower ER compared to peers, consistent with extant literature. Across all youth, parent-reported family conflict was associated with lower child ER, while parental warmth was associated with greater child ER. Lower parent ER conferred the greatest risk for lower child ER, generally, and particularly among youth with ADHD. Significant associations between specific familial factors, ADHD, and subdomains of youth ER (i.e., anxious/depressed, attention, and aggression) were also identified. Conclusions: Results of the current study may offer guidance for prioritization of targets for universal prevention and family-focused ER-based interventions for youth with ADHD. Future studies should examine the effect of familial factors on youth ER throughout the transition to adolescence.