Peer rejection in childhood is associated with a large number of negative outcomes, both concurrent and future: aggressive behavior, depression, delinquency, substance abuse and school drop-out. Although some peer-rejected children avoid these negative outcomes, little is known regarding this subgroup. The proposed research seeks to redress this gap in knowledge. Specifically, some peer-rejected children get along very well with adults. Other peer-rejected children engage in goal-directed solitary play when not with peers. I hypothesize that these two subgroups of children will show positive outcomes because they can talk to adults or play by themselves as an alternative to socializing with peers; positive emotion will mediate the relationship between popularity with adults! engagement in solitary play and positive outcomes in peer-rejected children. A sample of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as without ADHD will be investigated, because ADHD is highly associated with peer rejection and such a sample will allow comparison of processes between ADHD and non-ADHD children. Subjects will be 149 girls between the ages of 6-12, 60 percent of whom have ADHD, assessed in a naturalistic summer camp. Objective observations of solitary play and aggression, reliable individual interviews of depressed and anxious mood, and both peer and adult appraisal of social status will be used to validly differentiate subgroups and assess psychological problems. Subjects will be followed-up four years after the camps and given age-appropriate measures of psychopathology, including measures of body image dissatisfaction not previously examined as an outcome for peer-rejected or ADHD children. Hypotheses will be tested using hierarchical multiple regression analyses. The overall goal is to uncover mediators and moderators of psychopathology among peer-rejected children, towards the end of contributing to interventions for this group at risk for negative outcomes.
| Li, James J; Reise, Steven P; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea et al. (2016) Item Response Theory Analysis of ADHD Symptoms in Children With and Without ADHD. Assessment 23:655-671 |
| Griggs, Marissa Swaim; Mikami, Amori Yee (2011) Parental attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder predicts child and parent outcomes of parental friendship coaching treatment. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 50:1236-46 |
| Mikami, Amori Yee; Hinshaw, Stephen P (2006) Resilient adolescent adjustment among girls: buffers of childhood peer rejection and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Abnorm Child Psychol 34:825-39 |
