School Engagement in Youth with ADHD
摘要
Youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience significant school functioning difficulties that may contribute to low school engagement. School engagement, a student’s behavioral, emotional, and cognitive commitment to school, promotes positive functional and health outcomes and reduces risk for poor outcomes across development. Despite strong evidence demonstrating the importance of school engagement for all youth, school engagement is understudied in youth with ADHD, despite the potential for targeted strategies promoting school engagement to reduce academic difficulties. In this multi-informant study, we examine sociodemographic (i.e., youth sex, race, and medication status; caregiver education) and key characteristics of ADHD (i.e., inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, emotion regulation problems, prosocial behaviors) in relation to school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive) among youth with ADHD. Participants were 150 fifth grade students (Mage = 10.65, 46.7% females 36.7% youth of color) diagnosed with ADHD. On average, youth with ADHD endorsed high levels of behavioral and moderate levels of emotional and cognitive school engagement. Results of a multivariate structural equation model showed prosocial behaviors were significantly independently positively associated with all dimensions of school engagement. Inattention was negatively independently associated with emotional engagement, and emotion regulation problems were negatively independently associated with behavioral engagement. Results indicated differential associations between sociodemographic variables with behavioral and cognitive engagement. Findings point to potential promotive and risk mechanisms for school engagement specifically among youth with ADHD.