| Popis: |
Empathy is considered an important aspect of effective social communication. Adolescents with ADHD experience difficulties in several social domains including peer, sibling, and parent-child relationship. Social difficulties are intensified when ADHD diagnosis is accompanied with comorbidities such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). To date, empathy in ADHD has been studied in isolation of those comorbidities although they have been reported to be common among adolescents with ADHD. Furthermore, findings of empathy literature on these diagnoses were mixed and inconclusive. Gender and parenting affect empathic responses and literature is lacking on the role of these variables on empathy in ADHD. Therefore, this study investigated the role of ODD and MDD comorbidities, gender, and parental acceptance-rejection on cognitive (CE) and emotional empathy (EE) among adolescents with ADHD. This study used a comparative design. The sample was recruited from two mental-health outpatient settings in Northeast Ohio. One hundred and three adolescents with the diagnosis of ADHD-C, ADHD-C and ODD, and ADHD-C and MDD were recruited. The age of the sample ranged from 12 to 18 years old and subjects were mainly Caucasian. Adolescents completed two measures; the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1983) that assess CE and EE, and mother and father versions of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire-Child Version (Short-Form). Perspective taking and fantasy subscales of IRI measured CE, while emotional concern and personal distress assessed EE. Demographic data and clinical information were obtained as well. Two-way ANOVA was used to determine the effect of gender and diagnosis on CE and EE. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to test the moderating effect of parental acceptance-rejection on CE and EE. The findings showed no differences in CE according to gender and diagnoses (i.e., ADHD-C, ADHD-C and ODD, ADHD-C and MDD). Regarding EE, females scored higher than males on both subscales of EE; emotional concern, and personal distress. Adolescents with ADHD-C and ODD comorbidity scored significantly lower than the other two groups on both measures of EE. Females with ADHD-C and ODD had the lowest EE, specifically they had the lowest scores on emotional concern subscale. Parental acceptance-rejection moderated the relationship between ADHD-C and MDD diagnosis and both CE and EE. Paternal rejection resulted in lower fantasy scores among subjects with ADHD-C and MDD, while maternal rejection yielded lower emotional concern. Findings from this study showed that comorbidity of ODD in adolescents with ADHD-C intensified empathic difficulties, particularly EE. Parental rejection played a role in empathic responses for subjects with ADHD-C and MDD comorbidity. Mental health professionals may incorporate this knowledge when providing care to adolescents with ADHD. Designing and implementing interventions to improve empathic responses in this population is warranted as well. Future research is needed to further investigate empathy, its possible etiologies, and the mechanisms of the effect of possible parenting components on empathy in individuals with ADHD and ADHD with common comorbidities. |
