Emotional Regulation in Adolescents with ADHD
Mekonen Yerusalem*
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, England
Submission: November 20, 2017; Published: December 04, 2017
*Corresponding author: Mekonen Yerusalem, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, England; Email: mekonen.jerry@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Mekonen Yerusalem. Emotional Regulation in Adolescents with ADHD. Psychol Behav Sci Int J. 2017; 7(5): 555725. DOI: 10.19080/PBSIJ.2017.07.555725
Introduction
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is defined as a chronic brain condition marked by persistent inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity that affect around 3%-7% of adolescents. Research based evidence [1] implicating genetic factors and comparisons between adopted adolescents and twins, indicate ADHD to be highly heritable [2]. ADHD is correlated with several developmental, cognitive, emotional, social, and academic deficiencies. In extend, ADHD is linked with recession in the quality of life of both patients and parents. Studies focusing on the emotional deficiencies of children and adolescents with ADHD emphasize on the importance of understanding possible poor self-regulation of emotion, excessive emotional performance, difficulties in decoding emotional expressions, on future social absorption [1]. This literature based reference intents to highlight links between difficulties in emotional regulation and social adjustment in adolescents with ADHD. Understanding the factors/predictors such as social and emotional impairment, can eventually lead towards increasing quality of life and better social adjustment in children with ADHD.
Examining responses of young boys with ADHD in emotional regulation tasks between comparison and controls, results suggest that impulsive ADHD boys appear to show more prominent disinhibition, and lower levels of effective emotional regulation than control group. Moreover, young men with ADHD were unsuccessful in concealing their feelings notwithstanding when trained to do as such. Conversely, young boys in control group were more effective in following direction when offered guideline towards self-manage and self-regulation, and these adjustment efforts predicted later ability for suspensor control [3]. A more in-depth analysis in ADHD subgroups by Wheeler and Carlson 2000 indicated different patterns of social impairment among these subgroups. More specifically, adolescents with ADHD-C were found to express a more aggressive and challenging behaviour; additionally, they displayed emotional dysfunction composed by elevated and more intense levels of both positive and negative behaviour. On the contrary, children with ADHD-I were found to express a social passivity and showed dysfunctions in social knowledge on the self-report measure but did not present deficits related to emotional regulation process. Results of the same study indicated that the factors examined social performance, emotional regulation and social knowledge on adolescents with ADHD, are strongly associated and are considered as predictors of future social adjustment Wheeler, Carlson, 2000.
Late issues concerning the impact of such compassion related reactions as sensitivity and personal distress to prosaically and solitary response are highlighted, similar to the association between the characteristic of sympathy and the levels of emotional regulation, response and reaction across different conditions. The growth and the integration of elements such as guilt, disgrace, shame and compassion are further being under research. Moreover, the effect of more dysfunctional feelings such as anger, wrath, including mood and dispositional differences in negative emotionality and its regulation, in morally appropriate behaviour, is reviewed [4]. The above findings combined, create a core need to further examine and establish the interaction of different types of emotional regulation, emotional decoding and understanding, and the effect of dispositional factors in future social consequences and adjustment [5].
References
- Wehmeier PM, Schacht A, Barkley RA (2010) Social and emotional impairment in children and adolescents with ADHD and the impact on quality of life. Journal of Adolescent Health 46(3): 209-217.
- Gillis JJ, Gilger JW, Pennington BF, DeFries JC (1992) Attention deficit disorder in reading disabled twins: evidence for a genetic etiology. Journal of abnormal child psychology 20(3): 303-315.
- Walcott CM, Landau S (2004) The relation between disinhibition and emotion regulation in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology 33(4): 772-782.
- Eisenberg N (2000) Emotion regulation and moral development. Annual review of psychology 51(1): 665-697.
- Eisenberg N, Fabes RA, Guthrie IK, Reiser M (2000) Dispositional emotionality and regulation: their role in predicting quality of social functioning. Journal of personality and social psychology 78(1): 136157.