Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA
2. Department of Psychology & Neuroscience University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill North Carolina USA
Abstract
AbstractExecutive function (EF) abilities have been linked to numerous important life outcomes. We longitudinally characterized EF and attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) trajectories across adolescence (initial ages 8–19). Utilizing 3 years of annual data in 99 youth collected between years 2016 and 2020 (70.7% White, 40 females), we examined how age, puberty, and ADHD symptom burden related to EF across time. Age and puberty levels interacted to predict EF such that older youth with higher puberty had lower EF. While EF and ADHD significantly predicted each other, cross‐lagged panel models revealed that earlier EF predicted later ADHD burden while controlling for baseline ADHD burden, but not vice versa. These findings inform our understanding of the dynamics between EF and mental health in adolescence.
Subject
Developmental and Educational Psychology,Education,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health