Stephen Hinshaw

University of California, Berkeley | UCB · Department of Psychology

We examined the intergenerational association of ODD symptoms between parents and child offspring, elaborating a model whereby parental childhood ODD symptoms influence their children’s ODD symptoms through dyadic interactions within the current family system. The sample included 731 children (aged 6–11, 64.3% boys) and their parents. In a sample o...

Background Problematic Internet use (i.e., Internet use that disrupts functioning in other important domains; PIU) is increasingly prevalent worldwide, particularly among youth. One form of PIU relates specifically to interpersonal interaction and communication, deemed social PIU. Social PIU has been linked to various forms of psychopathology, incl...

Objectives: Recent studies report a fluctuating course of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across development characterized by intermittent periods of remission and recurrence. In the Multimodal Treatment of ADHD (MTA) study, we investigated fluctuating ADHD including clinical expression over time, childhood predictors, and between-...

The seminal contributions of Dante Cicchetti to the field/paradigm/metaparadigm of developmental psychopathology (DP) – and its continuing ascendance as a guiding force for multidisciplinary investigation of normative and atypical development – are legion. Our aim is to illustrate a number of DP’s core principles in the context of (a) prospective l...

This study explores the neural underpinnings of cognitive control deficits in ADHD, focusing on overlooked aspects of trial-level variability of neural coding. We employed a novel computational approach to neural decoding on a single-trial basis alongside a cued stop-signal task which allowed us to distinctly probe both proactive and reactive cogni...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental condition characterized by developmentally extreme and impairing symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. Great interest has emerged in the ways ADHD and its underlying symptom dimensions relate to the development of personality traits. Much ext...

Background Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remains underdiagnosed and undertreated in girls. Inattentive symptoms, often predominant in girls with ADHD, represent a key driver of impairment and often persist into adulthood. AKL-T01 is a regulated digital therapeutic targeting inattention. We examined potential sex differences in the...

Objective Non-suicidal self-directed violence (NSSDV) is a significant and growing youth public health crisis. Girls with ADHD are at increased risk of engaging in NSSDV, yet qualitative studies with this population—to better understand manifestations, motivations, and developmental course—are lacking. Method We conducted semi-structured, qualitat...

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two of the most common childhood mental disorders, and they have substantial comorbidity. The developmental precursor model has long been widely used to explain the mechanisms of comorbidity between ODD and ADHD, however whether it is equally effective at th...

Multiple pathway models propose that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) arises from dysfunction in separate systems comprised of a "cool" or cognitive pathway versus a “hot” or emotional/reward pathway. Interactions between these pathways and the degree of maturation may further determine functional outcomes for adolescents ranging fro...

Asian American (AA) families remain critically underrepresented in clinical trials for ADHD interventions. Little is known about AA families’ engagement in and outcomes of behavioral treatment (BT). Comparing AA families to other minoritized (OM) families and White families, this study examined parental cognitions, treatment engagement, and child o...

Importance: Possible associations between stimulant treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and subsequent substance use remain debated and clinically relevant. Objective: To assess the association of stimulant treatment of ADHD with subsequent substance use using the Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD (MTA), which provides...

Pubertal timing predicts a miscellany of negative mental and physical health outcomes. Prior work examining pubertal timing in youth with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has failed to investigate potential sex specificity of results. Therefore, we aim to extend past findings in a sample of female adolescents with ADHD. We compare pu...

Cognitive control deficits are a hallmark of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Theoretical models posit that cognitive control involves reactive and proactive control processes but their distinct roles and interrelations in ADHD are not known, and the contributions of proactive control remain vastly understudied. Here, we...

Now in its fourth edition, the acclaimed Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology aims for both depth and breadth, with a focus on adult disorders and special attention given to personality disorders. It provides an unparalleled guide for professionals and students alike. Esteemed editors Robert F. Krueger and Paul H. Blaney selected the most eminent res...

Objective: To identify under what circumstances a university student should be allowed academic accommodation for ADHD. To frame an evidence-based policy for use in Brazil based on a worldwide experience. Methods: We reviewed the literature to acquire information on what documents are commonly required by disability services before accommodation...

Parenting is crucial for emotion regulation in children. Much less is known, however, concerning the association between parenting and emotion regulation in children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), who are known to have poor emotion regulation. The current study aimed to examine how parental responsiveness and child emotion regulation rel...

A strong link between children’s emotion regulation and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms has been documented; however, the within-person mechanisms remain unclear. Based on the self-control theory and self-regulation theory, our study investigated the longitudinal, bidirectional relationship between emotion regulation and ODD symptoms i...

The status of mental health for adolescents and young adults has aptly been termed a “crisis” across research, clinical, and policy quarters. Arguably, the status quo provision of mental health services for adolescents and young adults is neither acceptable nor salvageable in its current form. Instead, only a wholesale policy transformation of ment...

Objective: We aimed to quantify the clinical utility of continuous performance tests (CPTs) for the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared to a clinical diagnosis in children and adolescents. Method: Four databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and PubMed) were screened until January 2023. Risk of bias of included re...

Objectives: We investigated the prospective association between (a) ADHD symptom dimensions, including their persistence and (b) adult sleep quality in a female sample, covarying adult depressive symptoms. Methods: Participants comprised four persistence groups (persisters, partials, desisters, and comparison) based on overall ADHD diagnosis and...

Background Research on the precursors of borderline personality disorder (BPD) reveals numerous child and adolescent risk factors, with impulsivity and trauma among the most salient. Yet few prospective longitudinal studies have examined pathways to BPD, particularly with inclusion of multiple risk domains. Methods We examined theory-informed pred...

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is one of the most prevalent childhood mental health disorders and is extremely affected by family factors. However, limited studies have addressed the issue from the perspective of family systems. The current study examines the associations between multilevel family factors (i.e., family cohesion/ adaptability a...

The purpose of this study is to identify the latent profiles of Chinese adolescents’ family (parent–adolescent and sibling) relationships prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as associations between those profiles and adolescents’ emotional and behavioral responses. A total of 2,305 adolescents from China aged between 10 and 18 years...

We examine the outcomes associated with childhood adversity for women with and without carefully diagnosed childhood ADHD, via an ethnically diverse sample of 140 participants with ADHD (Mage = 9.7) and 88 age- and ethnicity-matched comparisons (Mage = 9.4). At adult follow-up, we retained 211 of the original 228 participants (92.6%; Mage = 25.6)....

A strong link between children’s emotion regulation and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms has been documented; however, the within-person mechanisms remain unclear. Based on the self-control theory and self-regulation theory, our study investigated the longitudinal, bidirectional relationship between emotion regulation and ODD symptoms i...

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is characterized by a recurrent pattern of angry/irritable emotional lability, argumentative/defiant behavior, and vindictiveness. Previous studies indicated that ODD typically might originate within a maladaptive family environment, or was at least maintained within such an environment. As such, the present revi...

Unlabelled: Limited research has identified prospective risk factors for young-adult sex work or examined overlapping predictors concurrently. We investigated childhood sexual abuse (CSA), along with other theory-driven predictors of sex work, among a well-characterized sample of girls with and without childhood diagnoses of attention/deficit-hype...

This study evaluated the factor structure of the scores from a parent rating scale, the Parent Cognitive Error Questionnaire (PCEQ), which measures parents' attributions of child misbehavior and problems. The factor structure of the scores of the PCEQ was examined among 199 children (ages 7-11; mean age: 8.64 years, 58.30% boys, 53.80% White) with...

We examined developmental trajectories of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, standardized achievement, and school performance for adolescents with and without ADHD who did and did not enroll in postsecondary education (PSE; N = 749; 79% boys; 63% White, 17% non‐Hispanic Black, 10% Hispanic, and 10% other ethnicities). In a mu...

Objective Both continuum beliefs (i.e., that mental disorder exists on a spectrum of normative behavior patterns) and the perception of similarities to a person with schizophrenia have shown mixed effects on reducing mental illness stigma. To our knowledge, this is the first study to address continuum beliefs and the perception of similarities to a...

An increasing body of research showed families with ODD children struggle with impaired quality of family interactions, such as low marital quality and high parenting stress. Yet relatively little is known about their interplay in families of children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms. To examine longitudinal, reciprocal association...

Objective This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to (1) determine the accuracies of a broad range of screening tools for ADHD in children and adolescents and (2) compare the diagnostic accuracy of tools between population-based and clinical/high-risk samples, and across reporters. Method MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE and PubMed were searched u...

Objective Irritability is a common characteristic in ADHD. We examined whether dysfunction in neural connections supporting threat and reward processing was related to irritability in adolescents and young adults with ADHD. Method We used resting-state fMRI to assess connectivity of amygdala and nucleus accumbens seeds in those with ADHD ( n = 34)...

Objective: We examine the outcomes associated with childhood adversity for women with and without carefully diagnosed childhood ADHD, via an ethnically diverse sample of 140 participants with ADHD (Mage = 9.7) and 88 age- and ethnicity-matched comparisons (Mage = 9.4). At adult follow-up, we retained 211 of the original 228 participants (92.6%; Mag...

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have prominent deficits in sustained attention that manifest as elevated intra-individual response variability and poor decision-making. Influential neurocognitive models have linked attentional fluctuations to aberrant brain dynamics, but these models have not been tested with computati...

Almost 70% grandparents play important roles in the parenting of grandchildren in China. Although several studies have investigated the influence of grandparenting on children, few studies have taken the mutual impacts between parental and grandparental caregivers on children into account. The present study investigated the different associations o...

Objective: It is estimated that childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remits by adulthood in approximately 50% of cases; however, this conclusion is typically based on single endpoints, failing to consider longitudinal patterns of ADHD expression. The authors investigated the extent to which children with ADHD experience recove...

Attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – and its underlying behavioral dimensions of inattention and hyperactivity–impulsivity – have been understudied in females. We first cover the conceptual issues of prevalence, diagnostic practices, diversity, comorbidity, and causal factors, plus forces limiting awareness of ADHD in females. After a...

Objective To describe adult outcome of people with childhood diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its several key predictors via a review of seven North American controlled prospective follow-up studies: the Montreal, New York, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Berkeley and the seven-site Multimod...

For both women with and without childhood ADHD, positive parenting practices and positive peer relationships in childhood appear to cultivate the development of prosocial skills in adolescence. We present relevant longitudinal data, concluding that successful acquisition of these skills are vital for building healthy interpersonal relationships in...

Working memory (WM) deficits are key in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Nevertheless, WM is not universally impaired in ADHD. Additionally, the neural basis for WM deficits in ADHD has not been conclusively established, with regions including the prefrontal cortex, cerebellum, and caudate being implicated. These contradictions may...

Objective: We examined the predictive relation between childhood-diagnosed ADHD and trajectories of body mass index (BMI) from childhood to adulthood in an all-female sample, accounting for socioeconomic status (SES), childhood comorbidities (e.g., depression/anxiety), and stimulant usage. Childhood executive functioning (i.e., planning, sustained...

Background: Misconceptions about ADHD stigmatize affected people, reduce credibility of providers, and prevent/delay treatment. To challenge misconceptions, we curated findings with strong evidence base. Methods: We reviewed studies with more than 2,000 participants or meta-analyses from five or more studies or 2,000 or more participants. We exclu...

Introduction: Previous findings that inattention (IA) and hyperactive/impulsive (HI) symptoms predict later peer problems have been mixed. Utilizing two culturally diverse samples with shared methodologies, we assessed the predictive power of dimensionally measured childhood IA and HI symptoms regarding adolescent peer relationships. Methods: A US-...

We investigated initial engagement in oral sex and sexual intercourse, as well as number of sexual partners, among a prospectively followed sample of adolescent girls with and without a thorough childhood diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were adolescent girls (ages 12–19) followed longitudinally as part of...

Some mothers of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) present with maladaptive personality profiles (high neuroticism, low conscientiousness). The moderating effect of maternal personality traits on treatment outcomes for childhood ADHD has not been examined. We evaluate whether maternal neuroticism and conscientiousness mod...

Irritability is common in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but little is known about whether irritability predicts the course of ADHD symptoms over time. Adolescence is a dynamic period of emotional development as well as shifts in ADHD symptoms; an important goal is to identify youth at risk of increasing or persisting symptoms. We...

The stigma accompanying major depressive disorder (MDD) increases distress and misery worldwide and may incur worse consequences than the condition itself. Over the last decades public knowledge about mental illnesses has increased, but public mental illness stigma has not decreased. Recent research suggests that endorsement of the continuum perspe...

Beyond public health and economic costs, the COVID-19 pandemic adds strain, disrupts daily routines, and complicates mental health and medical service delivery for those with mental health and medical conditions. Bipolar disorder can increase vulnerability to infection; it can also enhance stress, complicate treatment, and heighten interpersonal st...

Beyond public health and economic costs, the COVID-19 pandemic adds strain, disrupts daily routines, and complicates mental health and medical service delivery for those with mental health and medical conditions. Bipolar disorder can increase vulnerability to infection; it can also enhance stress, complicate treatment, and heighten interpersonal st...

Although long-term outcomes of girls with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are understudied, high risk for adolescent and young-adult self-harm is salient. We present data on predictors and mediators of such risk, highlighting a recent dual-process model involving trait impulsivity plus family- and peer-related contributors. We conclude wit...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition affecting between 5 and 8% of all children and adolescents, characterized by impairing levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Existing cognitive models of ADHD have placed working memory (WM) deficits at the core of ADHD and suggest that primary WM def...

COVID-19 presents significant social, economic, and medical challenges. Because COVID-19 has already begun to precipitate huge increases in mental health problems, clinical psychological science must assert a leadership role in guiding a national response to this secondary crisis. In this article, COVID-19 is conceptualized as a unique, compounding...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder in children, with genetic factors accounting for 75–80% of the phenotypic variance. Recent studies have suggested that ADHD patients might present with atypical central myelination that can persist into adulthood. Given the essential role of sphingolip...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with self-harm during adolescence and young adulthood, especially among females. Yet little is known about the developmental trajectories or childhood predictors/moderators of self-harm in women with and without childhood histories of ADHD. We characterized lifetime risk for nonsuicidal...

The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has to date infected more than one million people and led to tens of thousands of deaths across the globe. Thus, many governments have imposed regional or national mass shelters‐in‐place in an effort to slow its rapid spread. In this global health emergency, special attention should be paid to the potential impact of t...

COVID-19 presents humanity with one of the greatest health and economic crises of the 21st Century. Because COVID-19 has already begun to precipitate a huge increase in mental health problems, we believe that clinical science must also play a leadership role in guiding a national response to this secondary crisis. In this article, we explain why CO...

Now over 10 years old, the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) has gained impressive traction in the adult psychopathology literature, but enthusiasm among child and adolescent psychopathologists lags somewhat behind. We consider possible reasons why RDoC has not been embraced fully in the child and adolescent literatures. We emphasize common, interrel...

This study tested whether early and developmentally atypical substance use mediates risk for adult substance use among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and whether that risk is substance-specific. Participants were children with ADHD previously enrolled in a randomized controlled trial (RCT), and a demographically simi...

Many words in English resemble one another in multiple ways. Words with similar spellings are referred to as orthographic neighbors. The purpose of this within‐subject experimental study was to examine the effect of orthographic neighbors on the spelling acquisition of second‐grade students. In each of five sessions of a computer‐based experiment,...

We examined the effectiveness of a student-initiated and guidebook-supported high school club program aimed at reducing mental-illness stigma via humanization—largely through contact—hypothesizing that stigma measures would improve across a school year and as a function of the timing of club initiation. Forty-two Northern California high schools (7...

Despite the tremendous growth of the peer specialist workforce in recent decades, significant ethical, political, and procedural challenges remain regarding recruitment and retention of peer staff. This column explores such challenges and potential pitfalls by examining the limits of current accommodation practices, the complexity of "shared identi...

Despite the tremendous growth of the peer specialist workforce in recent decades, significant ethical, political, and procedural challenges remain regarding recruitment and retention of peer staff. This column explores such challenges and potential pitfalls by examining the limits of current accommodation practices, the complexity of "shared identi...

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder–predominantly inattentive presentation (ADHD-I) and specific learning disorder (SLD) are commonly co-occurring conditions. Despite the considerable diagnostic overlap, the effect of SLD comorbidity on outcomes of behavioral interventions for ADHD-I remains critically understudied. The current study examines...

Objective: To estimate long-term stimulant treatment associations on standardized height, weight and BMI trajectories from childhood to adulthood in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA). Method: Of 579 children with DSM-IV ADHD-Combined Type at baseline (ages 7.0-9.9 years) and 289 classmates (local no...

Childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is prospectively linked to substance use and disorder. Depression emerging in adolescence is an understudied risk factor that may explain some of this risk. In the present study, we considered mediating and moderating roles of adolescent depression in explaining this association by using lon...

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) affects 15-20% of adolescents—disproportionately girls—and is a strong predictor of eventual suicide attempts and suicide. Many girls now initiate NSSI before age 10. These early-starters exhibit greater frequency of NSSI, use more diverse methods, and are hospitalized more often, yet there are no empirically support...

Objective: To examine whether girls with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) demonstrate positive illusory self-perceptions during adolescence and young adulthood. Methods: We tested, across a 5-year longitudinal span, whether self-perceptions versus external-source ratings were more strongly predictive of young adulthood impairment...