Differences in resilience, hope, and sense of coherence among adolescents with ADHD/DCD, co-occurring ADHD and DCD, and typically developing adolescents

Purpose: Adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and developmental coordination disorder (DCD) face daily challenges, which intensify when both disorders co-occur. Resilience, hope, and sense of coherence (SOC) support positive adaptation, yet research in this area is limited. This study examined resilience, hope, and SOC among adolescents with ADHD/DCD, co-occurring ADHD and DCD, and typical adolescents. Methods: 105 adolescents (12–18 years) with ADHD/DCD (n = 37), co-occurring ADHD+DCD (n = 23), and typical adolescents (n = 45) underwent a comprehensive assessment to confirm their diagnostic status before completing self-report questionnaires on resilience, hope, and SOC. Results: The ADHD+DCD group reported significantly lower levels of resilience (p = .017), hope (p = .001), and SOC (p = .007) compared to typical adolescents. No significant differences were found between the ADHD+DCD and the ADHD/DCD groups in all the main study variables (p > .05). Moderate to strong positive correlations were found linking resilience, hope, and SOC, with hope and SOC accounting for the majority of resilience variance and the final model explaining 54.7% of the variance. Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that adolescents with co-occurring ADHD and DCD may experience lower resilience, hope, and SOC than TD peers. These findings highlight the importance of considering co-occurring ADHD and DCD as a clinically relevant presentation and addressing adolescents’ emotional and adaptive resources within assessment and intervention.