DOI:10.6129/CJP.202112_63(4).0004
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2021, Vol.63, No.4, 373-394
Ming-Wei Chang（Department of Psychiatry, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital）；Chiung-Wei Huang（Department of Clinical Psychology, Taoyuan Psychiatric Center）；Li-Yu Shyu（Department of Psychology, Soochow University）
Abstract
The emotional problems in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) had been concerned recently. The goal of the present study was to examine whether school-aged children with ADHD experience difficulties with emotion awareness (including differentiating emotions, attending to others’ emotions, verbal sharing of emotions, analyses of emotions, not hiding emotions, and bodily unawareness) by a self-report measure, and investigate the relationships between emotion awareness and ADHD symptoms. Sixty children (83.3% boys) aged 9-12 years comprised of 30 children with ADHD and 30 typically developing children participated in this study. Children completed the emotion awareness questionnaire and Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices. Parents completed the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham Rating Scale, Version IV. The results indicated that comparing to typically developing children, children with ADHD demonstrated impairments in differentiating emotions, attending to others’ emotions, verbal sharing of emotions, and analyses of emotions. There were no significant differences in not hiding emotions and bodily unawareness. The multiple deficits of emotion awareness were not related to ADHD symptoms. This study found that the school-aged children with ADHD report more problems in emotion awareness than the typically developing children. Children with ADHD had lower levels in differentiating emotions, attending to others’ emotions, verbal sharing of emotions, and analyses of emotions. The deficits in emotional awareness constitute a dissociable component of ADHD. Clinicians should improve the abilities of differentiating emotions, verbal sharing of emotions, attending to others’ emotions, analyses of emotions in children with ADHD.
Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, children, emotion awareness, self-report
