Trait-Based Profiles of ADHD in Adolescents and Young Adults

Empirical work has examined the utility of using person-centered statistical approaches emphasizing traits to parsing attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) heterogeneity in preschool and school-age children. However, trait-based profiles have not yet been examined in other age ranges, specifically adolescence and young adulthood. Therefore, the goal of the present study is to examine trait-based profiles in adolescents and young adults with ADHD to evaluate their similarity with trait-based profiles in preschoolers and children with ADHD and through comparison with external correlates (e.g., comorbidity). One hundred eighty-two adolescents and 287 young adults completed measures of ADHD symptoms, personality and temperament traits, and comorbid internalizing and externalizing problems. Latent profile analysis suggested at least 3 consistent trait-based profiles related to ADHD within adolescents and young adults: low extraversion, high extraversion, and high neuroticism. These profiles were largely similar to those found in preschool and middle childhood and demonstrated similar comorbidity patterns, namely, the low-extraversion profile exhibited higher internalizing problems, the high-extraversion profile exhibited higher externalizing problems, and the small high-neuroticism profile exhibited descriptively higher levels of all comorbid problems. Such profiles may have utility for personalization of intervention based on trait profiles and comorbidity patterns, as well as—more speculatively—possible prognostic utility.