Friendship as Protection from Peer Victimization for Girls with and without ADHD

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the ability of friendship to moderate the association between behavioral risk and peer victimization for girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 140) and comparison girls (n = 88) in a 5-week naturalistic summer camp setting. Participants were an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse group of girls ages 6-12. Parents and teachers reported on pre-summer internalizing behavior, externalizing behavior, and social competence. Participants reported on friendships and peer victimization through a peer report measure at the summer camps; friendship was scored via mutual nominations. Pre-summer externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, and low social competence predicted peer victimization at the summer camps. Friendship moderated the association between behavioral risk and victimization for the entire sample, such that the presence of at least one friend reduced the risk of victimization. Additional analyses suggested that girls with ADHD were no more or less protected by the presence of a friendship than were comparison girls. Finally, preliminary analyses suggested that girls having only friends with ADHD were not significantly less protected than girls with at least one comparison friend. Future directions and implications for intervention are discussed.

The effects of victim of bullying reputation on adolescents’ choice of friends: Mediation by fear of becoming a victim of bullying, moderation by victim status, and implications for befriending interventions

“…Across three separate experiments with different groups of participants drawn from different schools, we have provided robust evidence that a victim reputation may precede being eschewed as a friend/buddy. It is noteworthy that other studies have reported that associations between a range of risk factors and victimization across time may be attenuated by the presence of good relationships, especially friendship (Cardoos & Hinshaw, 2011;Fox & Boulton, 2006;Hodges et al, 1999). However, this kind of data only indirectly implicates good peer relationships as coming before victimization because they focused on peer relationships as moderators rather than predictors of victimization.…”

“…One is based on the substantial evidence that friendships are central areas of concern to early adolescents and affect their well-being (Bukowski, Newcomb, & Hartup, 1998;Hartup, 1996). The other is that friendships offer some protection against victimization (Boulton et al, 1999;Cardoos & Hinshaw, 2011;Hodges et al, 1997Hodges et al, , 1999Kochenderfer & Ladd, 1997;Pellegrini et al, 1999;Perry et al, 1988). Clearly, it is important to find out more about the links between victimization and friendship formation.…”

Problematic Peer Functioning in Girls with ADHD: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Cardoos and Hinshaw [65], using the same summercamp data as Blachman and Hinshaw [64], investigated whether friendship participation could act as a buffer for peer victimisation. They reported that girls with ADHD had significantly lower rates of friendship participation relative to TD girls (Cohen’s d = 0.31).…”

The Importance of Social Contextual Factors in Peer Relationships of Children with ADHD

“…Some studies in samples of children with externalizing behavior or ADHD have found that having at least one good friend buffers the negative effects of peer rejection on maladjustment [34,35] and receipt of victimization [36]. However, other work involving an ADHD sample found that only peer rejection, and not friendship, contributed to negative outcomes such as depression 6 and 8 years later [37].…”