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Processing Speed Predicts Behavioral Treatment Outcomes in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Predominantly Inattentive Type

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Abstract

Neuropsychological functioning underlies behavioral symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children with all forms of ADHD are vulnerable to working memory deficits and children presenting with the inattentive form of ADHD (ADHD-I) appear particularly vulnerable to processing speed deficits. As ADHD-I is the most common form of ADHD presented by children in community settings, it is important to consider how treatment interventions for children with ADHD-I may be affected by deficits in processing speed and working memory. We utilize data collected from 199 children with ADHD-I, aged 7 to 11 years, who participated in a randomized clinical trial of a psychosocial-behavioral intervention. Our aims are first to determine whether processing speed or working memory predict treatment outcomes in ADHD-I symptom severity, and second whether they moderate treatment effects on ADHD-I symptom severity. Results of linear regression analyses reveal that baseline processing speed significantly predicts posttreatment ADHD-I symptom severity when controlling for baseline ADHD-I symptom severity, such that better processing speed is associated with greater symptom improvement. However, predictive effects of working memory and moderation effects of both working memory and processing speed are not supported in the present study. We discuss study limitations and implications of the relation between processing speed and treatment benefits from psychosocial treatments for children with ADHD-I.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Tolman Hall #1650, Berkeley, CA, 94720-1650, USA

    Christopher J. Adalio, Elizabeth B. Owens & Stephen P. Hinshaw

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Ave., Box 0984, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Keith McBurnett, Stephen P. Hinshaw & Linda J. Pfiffner

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  1. Christopher J. Adalio
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  2. Elizabeth B. Owens
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  3. Keith McBurnett
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  4. Stephen P. Hinshaw
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  5. Linda J. Pfiffner
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Correspondence to Linda J. Pfiffner.

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This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH077671).

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Adalio, C.J., Owens, E.B., McBurnett, K. et al. Processing Speed Predicts Behavioral Treatment Outcomes in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Predominantly Inattentive Type. J Abnorm Child Psychol 46, 701–711 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0336-z

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