The Impact of Internalizing Symptoms on Impairment for Children With ADHD: A Strength-Based Perspective

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the influence of internalizing symptoms on functional impairment for children with ADHD, and whether child strengths and parenting strengths have moderating effects on this relationship. METHODS: Participants included 209 children with ADHD and their caregivers seeking mental health services between the ages of 5 and 11 years. To examine the moderating effects of parenting and child strengths, ordinary least squares regression models were tested using the PROCESS macro for SPSS (v3.5). RESULTS: Results suggest that levels of internalizing symptoms influence functional impairment in children with ADHD. Child strengths moderate the relationship between internalizing symptoms and functional impairment when internalizing symptoms are medium to high. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study demonstrate that facilitating child strengths can help moderate functional impairment for children who experience ADHD and internalizing symptoms.