(PS6-84) Mindfulness as a Predictor of Reduced Emotion Dysregulation for Adolescents with ADHD

Emotion dysregulation (ED) is highly prevalent in adolescents with ADHD, occurring in 30-50% of individuals and associated with significant impairment and comorbidity (Bunford et al., 2015). To date, interventions for ED have targeted individual factors, such as internalizing symptoms and self-efficacy; and ecological factors, such as promoting positive parenting and reducing family conflict (Breaux & Langberg, 2020; Daros et al., 2021). Mindfulness-based interventions have demonstrated effectiveness in reducing ED in other populations (Metz et al., 2013), although few have examined the context of ADHD. Given youth with ADHD experience elevated emotional reactivity (Graziano & Garcia, 2016), mindfulness training may offer a unique pathway to managing ED in youth with ADHD by promoting non-reactive awareness of emotions and helping reduce ADHD-related in-the-moment reactivity. Using a sample of 135 8th grade adolescents (Mage=14.1; 36% female) with and without ADHD, this study 1) examined the role of mindfulness above and beyond other individual and ecological factors in predicting ED and 2) tested whether the effect of mindfulness was moderated by ADHD status. Approximately half (47.4%; n=64) met diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Most participants were White (87.6%), with remaining participants being Asian (3.6%), Black (2.9%), or Multiracial (5.8%); 4.4% identified as Hispanic/Latino. A multiple regression examined the relative association among self-efficacy, internalizing symptoms, parental emotion regulation, parent-rated parent-teen conflict, and adolescent-rated mindfulness as predictors of adolescent ED. Next, an interaction term (MindfulnessxADHD) was added to examine whether the effect of mindfulness on ED varied for adolescents with and without ADHD. Covariates included adolescent race, ethnicity, and sex. In Step 1, initial internalizing symptoms (b=.59, p< .001) and self-efficacy (b= -.15, p< .05) were associated with adolescents’ ED in eighth grade. When mindfulness was added in Step 2, only mindfulness (b= -.31, p< .001) and internalizing symptoms (b=.46, p< .001) were significantly associated with adolescents’ ED. When the ADHDxMindfulness interaction was added in Step 3 (b=-3.06, p=.01), the effect of mindfulness on ED was significant only for adolescents with ADHD (ADHD: b=-4.50, p< .001; ns non-ADHD: b=-1.44, p=.13), with higher levels of mindfulness predicting reduced ED. This study supports mindfulness as a leading predictor of reduced ED in adolescents with ADHD, suggesting that interventions for ED in adolescents with ADHD should prioritize mindfulness training. Future directions and clinical implications for interventions addressing ED in adolescents with and without ADHD will be discussed.