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ViewAttendees 7

Symposia

ADHD - Child

Session: Social-emotional functioning of youth with ADHD and related disorders in different developmental stages

1 - (SYM 56) Peer Functioning Among Preschool Children with ADHD: The Role of Emotion Dysregulation

Saturday, November 18, 2023
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM PST
Location: Beckler (302), Level 3

Background:  Young children with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD), such as ADHD, have well-established social impairments (Ros & Graziano, 2018). There is less research on mechanisms, such as emotion dysregulation (ED), that may contribute to such peer difficulties. Within a diverse sample of young children, the current study focused on 1) examining social & emotional functioning differences among children with and w/out ADHD, and 2) the extent to which multiple domains of ED (emotion regulation, emotional lability, empathy/callous-unemotional behaviors) relate to children with ADHD’s peer functioning.

 

Method: Participants were 323 children (Mage = 5.47, SD = .76; 69% male, 81% Hispanic) with ADHD (n = 162) along with a typically developing (TD) group (n = 161). ED was measured via parent/teacher ratings and a frustration task. Social functioning was measured using a peer provocation task, behavioral responses and sociometrics. Children’s counselors also provided ratings of social and emotional ffunctioning.

 

Results and Discussion:  Children in the ADHD group had worse ED relative to TD and provided less prosocial and more aggressive responses during the social problem-solving task along with incongruent emotional responses (ps < .05, Cohen’s D 0.23 to 1.58). Sociometric findings indicated that among children with ADHD, greater ER (observed) was related to higher social preference (as rated by peers & counselors, r’s .30-.31, p < .05). Higher parent/teacher ratings of CU were related to higher peer & counselor reports of CU behaviors (r’s .32-.42, p< .001 and lower social preference (as rated by counselors, r = -.27, p < .01). Finally, higher parent/teacher ratings of emotional lability were related to higher CU behaviors and less prosocial behaviors (peer & counselor reports, r’s .24-.29 and -.23- -.28, p < .05). These findings provide insight to how ED contributes to the social difficulties faced by young children with ADHD.