Beyond Negative Emotions: Positive Emotion Reactivity and Social Impairments in Children with and without Elevated ADHD Symptoms.

Abstract

Research examining the link between emotion dysregulation and youth social impairments has focused almost exclusively on the dysregulation of negative emotions. Yet some youth experience dysregulation of positive emotions, which also may influence social functioning. The present study sought to extend previous research by examining whether negative emotion reactivity and positive emotion reactivity were each uniquely associated with children's social impairments. These effects were examined in a sample of 9-13-year-olds (N = 186; 47% female) enriched for clinical elevations in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, a disorder associated with significant social impairments and emotion dysregulation. Children's negative and positive emotion reactivity were assessed using parent report, ADHD symptoms were assessed with a combined parent and teacher report, and social impairments (social acceptance, aggression, victimization, and prosocial behavior) were assessed using teacher report. Partial correlations indicated that positive emotion reactivity was uniquely associated with greater ADHD symptoms and social impairments even when accounting for overlapping variance with negative emotion reactivity. Additionally, regression analyses indicated that ADHD symptoms moderated the effect of positive emotion reactivity on physical aggression, physical victimization, and social acceptance, with children high in both positive emotion reactivity and ADHD symptoms being the most socially impaired. These results are the first to indicate that especially for youth with elevated ADHD symptoms, positive emotion reactivity may be uniquely associated with social impairment. Results underscore the need for additional research examining positive emotion dysregulation, especially in youth with ADHD.