Does Anxiety Modify the Risk for, or Severity of, Conduct Problems Among Children With Co-Occurring ADHD: Categorical and Dimensional and Analyses.

OBJECTIVE The goal was to examine whether anxiety modifies the risk for, or severity of, conduct problems in children with ADHD. METHOD Assessment included both categorical and dimensional measures of ADHD, anxiety, and conduct problems. Analyses compared conduct problems between children with ADHD features alone versus children with co-occurring ADHD and anxiety features. RESULTS When assessed by dimensional rating scales, results showed that compared with children with ADHD alone, those children with ADHD co-occurring with anxiety are at risk for more intense conduct problems. When assessment included a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) diagnosis via the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children-Epidemiologic Version (K-SADS), results showed that compared with children with ADHD alone, those children with ADHD co-occurring with anxiety neither had more intense conduct problems nor were they more likely to be diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder. CONCLUSION Different methodological measures of ADHD, anxiety, and conduct problem features influenced the outcome of the analyses.