Multi-Informant Ratings of Irritability and Disruptiveness in School-Aged Children with ADHD

ABSTRACT

Emotion dysregulation is a common social functioning deficit in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Little is known about how teachers rate irritability in school-aged children with ADHD. We examined irritability and disruptive behaviour in clinic-referred school-aged children (n = 145) with ADHD. Children in this cross-sectional study were 6–12 years old (M_age = 9.2 years, 16.6% female). We obtained ratings from children themselves as well as their mothers, fathers, and teachers at the baseline of a family intervention program. Descriptive statistics and multilevel regression models were employed. Children displayed increased irritability, such as frequent temper outbursts, when compared with population sample peers. Children’s proneness to anger was strongly associated with perceived peer difficulties particularly in teacher ratings. Findings highlight the significance of home- and school-based support when considering social functioning in children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
• disruptive behaviour
• irritability
• multi-informants
• multilevel linear regression
• survey research

Disclosure statement

This study complies with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. The authors have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.