A study of 105 Israeli adolescents found that teens with both attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and developmental coordination disorder (DCD) reported lower resilience, hope and sense of coherence than typically developing teens.
The findings, reported in 2026 in PLOS ONE, describe differences between groups rather than showing that ADHD or DCD caused lower scores. The researchers also did not test whether an intervention could improve hope or resilience.
What the study found
The participants included 23 teens with both ADHD and DCD, 37 with ADHD or DCD alone, and 45 typically developing teens. Participants were between 12 and 18 years old.
Compared with the typically developing group, teens with both conditions had lower average scores for:
- Resilience: 2.21 versus 2.55 on a scale from 1 to 5
- Hope: 3.61 versus 4.43 on a scale from 1 to 6
- Sense of coherence: 3.88 versus 4.57 on a scale from 1 to 7
The group differences were statistically significant. Effect sizes, reported using Hedges’ g, ranged from 0.72 to 0.87.
Hope was assessed through two components: agency, or the perceived ability to move toward goals, and pathways, or the perceived ability to find routes toward them. Teens with both conditions scored lower than typically developing teens on both components.
Personal resilience was the clearest area of difference
The resilience questionnaire covered personal resilience as well as family, peer, school and community areas. Both diagnosed groups scored lower than typically developing teens on the personal or “self” part of the measure.
For teens with both ADHD and DCD, the average self-resilience score was 2.05 compared with 2.54 among typically developing teens. The one-condition group averaged 2.30. Family, peer, school and community resilience did not differ significantly between groups.
The researchers suggested that similar home environments and attendance at regular schools may help explain the lack of differences in those areas. That interpretation was not directly established by the study.
How hope, coherence and resilience were connected
Across all 105 participants, resilience was correlated with hope and sense of coherence. The correlation was 0.66 for resilience and hope, 0.64 for resilience and sense of coherence, and 0.55 for hope and sense of coherence.
Diagnosis group alone accounted for 7.3% of the variation in resilience. When hope and sense of coherence were added to the analysis, the explained variation rose to 54.7%, and diagnosis group was no longer a significant factor.
These results describe statistical associations. They do not show that increasing hope would increase resilience, or establish which factors account for the differences.
What the researchers measured
Families were recruited through social media in 2023. Of 177 respondents, 105 teens were included in the final analysis.
ADHD classification required a physician diagnosis reported by a parent along with enough current symptoms on a standard parent rating scale. DCD classification required either a prior diagnosis or a high score on a coordination questionnaire, together with a result below the 16th percentile on a hands-on movement test administered by occupational therapists.
The researchers, Yael Rozman and Miri Tal-Saban, defined resilience as the ability to recover and adapt after stress or setbacks. Hope referred to agency and pathways toward goals. Sense of coherence described whether life felt understandable, manageable and meaningful.
Why the findings need careful interpretation
The study was cross-sectional and relied on questionnaires completed by the teens, so it could identify differences at one point in time but not causes or changes over time.
The groups were small and uneven, including only 23 teens with both conditions and a very small DCD-only subgroup. The single-diagnosis group did not differ significantly from either the typically developing group or the group with both conditions on the three total scores. The limited group sizes may also have reduced the study’s ability to detect differences.
Several features may limit how broadly the findings apply. Families volunteered through social media in Israel, teens with diagnosed anxiety, depression or other psychiatric or medical conditions were excluded, and typical teens did not take the hands-on movement test. The movement test was also used beyond its usual age range for 17- and 18-year-olds, and the therapists administering it knew each teen’s group.
About 61% of teens in each diagnosed group took ADHD medication, and medication use was not linked to the three scores measured. The study did not determine which factors explain the group differences. Larger studies that follow teens over time are needed.
What this adds
The researchers suggested that strengths-based support for teens with ADHD or DCD could consider hope, sense of coherence and resilience alongside attention and motor difficulties. The current study provides an early description of these relationships; it does not evaluate a specific support program or establish that changing one trait will change another.
AI tools were used to assist with the preparation of this article under our editorial standards.
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