A-141 Vindicated by Awareness: Acting with Awareness May Compensate for Inhibitory Deficits in ADHD Symptom Burden

Abstract

Abstract Objective To understand the role of trait mindfulness acting-with-awareness in the relationship between inhibitory control and ADHD symptom burden. Method We conducted a cross-sectional study with 103 adults, aged 18 to 86, mean age = 46, mean education = 15 years, 46% male. Participants were recruited in North Western Oregon counties. Eligible individuals were aged >18, fluent in English, and with normal global cognition (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA>22). The presence of ADHD diagnoses/symptoms was not required. Participants were administered the Adult Investigator Symptom Rating Scale (AISRS), the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) Acting with Awareness, and the DKEFS Color-Word Interference Test (CWIT). We examined the contribution of CWIT (time/sec), acting-with-awareness (AA), and their interaction in age-adjusted multiple regression predicting AISRS total score. Results Descriptives for the measures of interest were AISRS (M = 19.21, SD = 12.72), CWIT (M = 55.66, SD = 15.27), and FFMQ-AA (M = 25.10, SD = 7.17). Both CWIT and FFMQ-AA predicted AISRS when analyzed independently (B = 0.274, p = 0.14, R2 = 0.13 and B = -0.633, p < 0.001, R2 = 0.45). In the combined model, FFMQ-AA (B = -1.06, p = 0.000) but not CWIT predicted AISRS, R2 = 0.47. The interaction was not significant, p = 0.55. Conclusion AA is a powerful predictor of ADHD symptom burden: it accounts for almost half of the variance, and removes any contribution from inhibitory control. Our finding suggests that trait mindfulness has a more important role in shaping ADHD than cognition.