Moderators and mediators of treatments for youth with ADHD

There are few studies assessing moderation and mediation of behavioral treatment and cognitive training outcome in children with ADHD. Only two studies have assessed moderation of treatment outcome. For behavioral treatment outcome, comorbid anxiety, parental self-efficacy, paternal ADHD, and no or single comorbidity are significant moderators. Parents with high self-efficacy, fathers with high levels of ADHD symptoms, and children with comorbid anxiety and only one or no comorbid condition are most likely to benefit from behavioral interventions. The few mediation studies showed ineffective and negative parenting as a significant mediator of behavioral treatment outcome: the more reduction of negative and ineffective parenting, the more effective the treatment is. For cognitive training there is no empirical research on moderation and mediation of treatment outcome within ADHD samples. Given the documented heterogeneity within ADHD and ADHD treatments, more research is needed into moderation and mediation of treatment outcome.