The Temporal Effects of ADHD symptoms on Physical, Psychological and Socioemotional Wellbeing and the Moderating Role of Sleep Problems in Children from an East London cohort study 

<title>Abstract</title> <p>Background Children with ADHD often experience poorer physical, psychological, and socioemotional wellbeing, and co-occurring sleep problems may further exacerbate these difficulties; however, little is known about whether sleep problems influence the longitudinal relationship between ADHD symptoms and wellbeing. Objectives We aimed to investigate the temporal associations between ADHD symptoms and physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing and whether sleep problems amplify these temporal associations in primary school-aged children living in East London. Methods Data came from 879 children (7–12 years old) enrolled in the Development of Emotional Resilience study, of whom 711 were included in the present analyses. We used teacher-reported ADHD symptoms, self-reported data on physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing outcomes and sleep problems across two waves. Results Structural Equation Modelling analysis showed good stability of ADHD symptoms across waves (β = .72, p&lt; .001). The latent factors capturing physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing also indicated temporal stability across waves (β = .54, p&lt;.001). Sleep problems aggregated across waves were negatively associated with physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing at Wave 3 (β=−.26, p&lt;.001). Earlier (Wave 2) ADHD symptoms were not significantly associated with later (Wave 3) physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing after controlling for earlier (Wave 2) physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing and sleep problems (β=−.043, p=.3). The interaction between earlier ADHD symptoms and sleep problems was not statistically significant (β = .02, p=.7). Conclusion ADHD symptoms and physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing outcomes showed good stability over time. Sleep problems were significantly associated with lower subsequent children’s physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing but ADHD symptoms did not temporally predict later physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing after accounting for these variables at an earlier time-point. These findings highlight the important role of sleep problems in children’s physical, psychological and socioemotional wellbeing outcomes.</p>