Fiona Macphee, Ph.D.

Fellow in ADHD

Project Details

Project Title

Parenting Indicators of Engagement in Treatment for Adolescents with ADHD

Project Summary

Stimulant medication and behavior therapy treatments for teens with ADHD have been found to be effective through clinical research for decades; however, these treatments are vastly underutilized and more than half of youth with ADHD do not receive any form of treatment —particularly in adolescence. One crucial component of promoting skill use taught in therapies for adolescents is engaging parents to help the teens implement skills learnt in therapy during their daily life living. Further, research shows that effective parenting (e.g., consistency, awareness, involvement while promoting adolescent autonomy) is related to a range of adaptive adolescent outcomes. However, typical behavior therapy for adolescents with ADHD rarely engages parents. The current project uses audio tape recordings of parents during treatment sessions with a therapist and their teen to study patterns of parenting and how these patterns change throughout the course of treatment. We will also investigate what parent and teen characteristics predict these patterns and whether certain patterns predict better response to therapy.