Moderators and mediators of treatment outcome for youth with ADHD: understanding for whom and how interventions work.
OBJECTIVE
To present data on moderators and mediators of treatment response from the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children With ADHD (MTA).


METHODS
Moderator variables (baseline factors that define subgroups with greater vs lesser intervention response) and mediator variables (factors occurring during treatment that explain how interventions "work") are described with specific application to the outcomes of the MTA Study.


RESULTS
Key moderator variables (comorbid anxiety disorder, public assistance, severity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, parental depressive symptomatology, IQ) and mediator processes (negative/ineffective parental discipline) are reviewed.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment research in the future should explicitly consider the exploration of moderator and mediator variables, which can greatly aid the explanatory power of clinical trials and specify the critical next steps for intervention research.
Hinshaw
Stephen P
SP
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. hinshaw@berkeley.edu
D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000628:therapy*; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016896:Treatment Outcome