The association of emotional lability and emotional and behavioral difficulties among children with and without ADHD

This study examined the effects of emotional lability over time on the behavioral and emotional difficulties of children with and without ADHD using an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology. One hundred and two children aged 8–12 years (56 with ADHD and 46 without ADHD) and their parents completed baseline measures of the children’s behavioral and emotional difficulties. Parents then completed a 28-day 3-times daily EMA assessment protocol to rate their child’s emotional lability. Results suggested that emotional lability was associated with internalizing and/or externalizing diagnoses independent of ADHD diagnostic status, but was not directly associated with ADHD. Hierarchical regression analyses supported ADHD diagnostic status as a moderator of the association of greater EMA-derived emotional lability with children’s behavioral difficulties, such that greater emotional lability was associated with greater behavioral difficulties among children with ADHD but not among children without ADHD. Results indicated that greater emotional lability was directly linked with greater emotional difficulties and that this relation was not moderated by ADHD diagnostic status. Overall, this study suggested that emotional lability is related to emotional difficulties independent of ADHD, but is differentially related to behavioral difficulties among children with and without ADHD.
Source: ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research