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Bullying and Peer Victimisation in Adolescent Girls with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

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Abstract

Emerging evidence suggests that adolescent girls with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are more socially impaired compared with their peers; however, research has yet to elucidate the nature of this impairment. We investigated overt (e.g., physical, such as hitting or kicking or verbal, such as teasing and taunting) and relational (e.g., social manipulation, such as social exclusion) bullying and victimisation in adolescent girls with and without ADHD. Adolescent girls (mean age = 15.11) with (n = 22) and without (n = 20) ADHD and their primary caregivers completed measures of overt/relational bullying and victimisation and social impairment. Adolescent girls with ADHD experienced more social problems and more relational and overt victimisation than adolescent girls without ADHD. Although adolescent girls with ADHD engaged in more overt and relational bullying than adolescent girls without ADHD, this difference was not statistically significant. Oppositional Defiant Disorder symptoms appeared to be more strongly related to bullying behaviour, while victimisation appeared to be more strongly related to ADHD.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program to the MCRI. We sincerely thank all of the families who for participated in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC, 3052, Australia

    Emma Sciberras

  2. Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia

    Emma Sciberras & Vicki Anderson

  3. Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Emma Sciberras & Vicki Anderson

  4. Department of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    Jeneva Ohan

  5. Psychology Service, Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

    Vicki Anderson

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  1. Emma Sciberras
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  2. Jeneva Ohan
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  3. Vicki Anderson
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Correspondence to Emma Sciberras.

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Sciberras, E., Ohan, J. & Anderson, V. Bullying and Peer Victimisation in Adolescent Girls with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 43, 254–270 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-011-0264-z

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