Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Kenneth Logan

Second Advisor

Elizabeth Hamilton

Abstract

Prenatal substance exposure (PSE) significantly increases the risk of behavioral, emotional, and neurological challenges in children (Eiden et al., 2023). Children with PSE present similarly to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and are often diagnosed with ADHD due to shared symptomatology (Garrison-Desany et al., 2022). However, PSE has a greater association with long-term cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral deficits (Eiden et al., 2023). While PSE and ADHD share similar symptomologies, treatment and outcomes vary substantially, where early identification and treatment is a critical protective factor against the development of other psychological conditions in children with PSE. PSE can be difficult to identify in the absence of a confirmatory report, and there have been few studies that have analyzed the utility of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3) in helping to distinguish between PSE and ADHD. The present study examined parent and teacher BASC-3 reports among ADHD and PSE groups. Parent reports revealed that the PSE group had significantly higher mean scores on scales related to bullying behaviors, social difficulties, anger control, emotional self-control, and negative emotionality. The Resiliency and Emotional Control Index scales effectively predicted PSE group membership when using parent reports. Teacher reports did not reveal significant differences between the groups. Findings highlight the potential utility of using the BASC-3 parent report content scales when distinguishing PSE from ADHD. These findings may help to deepen the understanding of profile differences on behavioral rating scales between children with ADHD and PSE.

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