Giorgia Michelini, Ph.D.

Fellow In Child & Adolescent ADHD

Project Details

Project Title

Identifying prevention targets to avert ADHD persistence, depression and suicide in youth with ADHD

Project Summary

Over half of children with ADHD still experience clinically significant levels of ADHD as adolescents and young adults, which leads to numerous long-term negative outcomes. One of the most alarming outcomes is the emergence of depression, as up to 50% of youth with ADHD develop depression during adolescence or young adulthood. Moreover, youth with both ADHD and depression show rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts that are 6 times higher than in those with either disorder alone. Emerging evidence suggests that difficulties controlling emotion and attention (i.e., emotion and attention dysregulation) may be related with ADHD persistence and mood symptoms. The goal of the current study is to test whether these difficulties in children with ADHD and their change from childhood to young adulthood predict ADHD persistence and emergence of depression and suicidality. Dr. Michelini and her team will test adolescents and young adults with and without childhood ADHD recruited from participants who completed extensive behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) assessments in childhood. This project will inform future projects to test the efficacy of preventive treatments, with the goal of reducing the impact of persistent ADHD and co-occurring depression and suicidality among youths with ADHD, their families, and society.

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