Teacher Ratings of Emotion Regulation in Children with and without ADHD

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Introduction: Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) frequently experience emotional and behavioral difficulties (Barkley, 2015). Emotion regulation difficulties are common among children with ADHD. (Martel, 2009). Emotion regulation is a multi-faceted process whereby individuals modulate their emotional state to meet internal and external needs (Thompson, 1994). Children with emotion regulation difficulties may experience a range of difficulties including emotional reactivity, lability, and negativity. Dispositional negativity is the tendency to express high and persistent levels of irritability (Shackman et al., 2016), whereas emotional lability/negativity is the tendency to have intense mood variability and intensity (Reis et al., 2016). Poor emotion regulation is linked to increased impairment across a range of domains among children with ADHD (Anastopoulos et al., 2011). However, although studies have examined teacher ratings of behavior (Abikoff et al., 1993; Jackson & King, 2004; Pelham et al., 1992), there is limited research regarding teachers’ perceptions of emotion regulation among children with and without ADHD. Thus, the current study examined teacher ratings of emotion regulation in children with and without ADHD. Specifically, it was hypothesized that teachers would rate children with ADHD as having more emotion regulation difficulties than children without ADHD. In addition, it was hypothesized that there would be an interaction of ADHD and ODD such that teachers would report the greatest emotion regulation difficulties among children with both ADHD and ODD.

Method: Ninety-one children ages 7-11 with (N=55) and without ADHD (N=36) and their teachers were recruited from a community-based sample. Emotion regulation was measured using the Emotion Regulation Checklist, which has two subscales. The first is Emotional Lability/Negativity, which measures emotional intensity and variability. The second is Emotion Regulation, which measures general negativity. ADHD and ODD diagnostic status were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children.

Results: An ANCOVA was conducted to examine teacher ratings of emotion regulation, with age and sex as covariates. Teachers rated children with ADHD as having significantly more difficulty with emotional lability/negativity than children without ADHD, F(1, 82) = 4.069, p = .047, η2 = .047. Teachers did not rate children with ADHD as having significantly more difficulty with general negativity than children without ADHD. However, teachers rated children with ODD as having more difficulty with negativity than children without ODD regardless of whether or not the child had ADHD, F(1, 82) = 1.458, p = .022, η2 = .062.

Discussion: Overall, these results suggest that teachers perceive children with different diagnoses as having difficulties with different aspects of emotion regulation. Specifically, teachers perceive children with ADHD as having difficulties with emotional lability, whereas they perceive children with ODD as having difficulties with general negativity. Similarly to the current literature suggesting the important role of parent reports of emotion regulation (Hourigan et al., 2011), this study highlights the potential benefit of incorporating teacher report measures of emotion regulation into ADHD assessment.

Authors

• Helena Frances Alacha, University of Louisville
  Presenting Author

• Paul J Rosen, University of Louisville
  Non-Presenting Author