Abstract

Objective: To assess the perceived expressed emotion (EE) by adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from their parents and to investigate the relationship between EE and impairment in functioning, as well as the relationship between internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Method: The study population comprised 50 adolescents aged 12- 17 years who had been diagnosed with ADHD. The adolescents were administered the shortened level of expressed emotion scale in adolescents (SLEES) and youth self-report (YSR) for the young people aged 11-18. The parents completed the Weiss functional impairment rating scale-parent form (WFIRS-P) and the child behavior checklist (CBCL) for children aged 6-18.

Results: It was found that there was a significantly higher difference in the subscale of maternal intrusiveness perceived by adolescents in males. The total score of perceived father’s EE were found to be significantly different, which was higher in males (p˂0.05). No statistically significant relationship was found between the total WFIRS-P score and the mother or father of SLEES. There was no statistically significant relationship between adolescents’ perceived EE from their parents and the total internalizing and externalizing scores of the YSR. There was no statistically significant relationship between the adolescents’ perceived EE from their parents and the total internalizing and externalizing CBCL scores.

Conclusion: The results of studies on EE are inconclusive with regard to the question of whether parental criticism and low levels of positive relationships with children can predict changes in ADHD symptoms and whether they are potential predictors of changes in ADHD symptoms. Our findings indicated that despite the perceived high emotional expression of adolescents with ADHD, there was no significant relationship between perceived EE and functioning in daily life. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that the comorbidity of ODD in addition to ADHD did not lead to a significant difference in perceived EE.