Highlights for Issue 3 of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

Highlights for Issue 3 of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

By Andres De Los Reyes, PhD
Editor-in-Chief, JCCAP

By Andres De Los Reyes, PhD
Editor-in-Chief, JCCAP

I am excited to report highlights from our upcoming issue in the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Our Evidence Base Update for this issue is actually an update from a highly influential study by Danielson and colleagues (2018; https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2024.2335625), which was published in an earlier volume of the journal.

In Issue 3’s Evidence Base Update, Danielson and colleagues (2024) report updated prevalence estimates of ADHD based on 2022 figures, along with key characteristics linked to these estimates (e.g., treatment characteristics, co-occurring conditions, demographics). Below you will find the abstract from this article, along with the doi link at which to access it. As an Evidence Base Update, we expect to make this article free to access for a full year following its release.

In light of the contribution this article makes to the field, I am beyond grateful to SCCAP’s current President, Dr. Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, for collaborating with Dr. Nadia Bounoua to prepare an Editorial to accompany the piece by Danielson and colleagues (2024). Further, the empirical articles included in this issue were carefully curated to highlight cutting-edge work in ADHD. The issue closes with an inspiring, forward-thinking Future Directions piece by Dr. Giusto and colleagues (2024) on models of community-engaged research.

You can find these and other articles from the journal on our page at Taylor and Francis: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/hcap20.

ABSTRACT (From Danielson et al., 2024; https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2024.2335625)

Objective: To provide updated national prevalence estimates of diagnosed attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), ADHD severity, co-occurring disorders, and receipt of ADHD medication and behavioral treatment among U.S. children and adolescents by demographic and clinical subgroups using data from the 2022 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH).

Method: This study used 2022 NSCH data to estimate the prevalence of ever diagnosed and current ADHD among U.S. children aged 3–17 years. Among children with current ADHD, ADHD severity, presence of current co-occurring disorders, and receipt of medication and behavioral treatment were estimated. Weighted estimates were calculated overall and for demographic and clinical subgroups (n = 45,169).

Results: Approximately 1 in 9 U.S. children have ever received an ADHD diagnosis (11.4%, 7.1 million children) and 10.5% (6.5 million) had current ADHD. Among children with current ADHD, 58.1% had moderate or severe ADHD, 77.9% had at least one co-occurring disorder, approximately half of children with current ADHD (53.6%) received ADHD medication, and 44.4% had received behavioral treatment for ADHD in the past year; nearly one third (30.1%) did not receive any ADHD-specific treatment.

Conclusions: Pediatric ADHD remains an ongoing and expanding public health concern, as approximately 1 million more children had ever received an ADHD diagnosis in 2022 than in estimates from the 2022 NSCH provide information on pediatric ADHD during the last full year of the COVID-19 pandemic and can be used by policymakers, government agencies, health care systems, public health practitioners, and other partners to plan for needs of children with ADHD.