Emotional functioning
Emotional dysfunction is also a common feature of ADHD.
Many parents report that their child displays low levels of
emotional control and high negative emotionality (high
levels of anger, frustration) (Anastopoulos et al. 2011). They
may also display impairments during emotion recognition
tasks (Da Fonseca et al. 2009; Sjowall et al. 2013). As with
neuropsychological functioning, emotion functioning deficits
in ADHD are heterogeneous. For example, analysis of autonomic
activity during emotion suppression and induction tasks
reveal differential patterns of arousal in children with ADHD
according to the levels of pro-social behaviour that they display
(Musser et al. 2013). There is a need for increased understanding
of the role of emotional processing in children with ADHD
(Martel 2009) and possible inclusion of emotion regulation into
future neuropsychological models. This follows evidence that
some children show deficits in emotion functioning yet remain
unimpaired on measures of neuropsychological functioning
including executive function and delay aversion (Sjowall et al.
2013). In addition, emotional regulation is a key factor in
predicting later adverse life events including school exclusions
and difficulties with family relationships highlighting the
importance of targeting emotional functioning in interventions
(Barkley & Fischer 2010).