Factors Associated with Empathy Among Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of psychiatric comorbidities on the level of empathy in adolescents diagnosed with ADHD; to evaluate the relationship between adolescent behavioral problems and empathy; to acquire information on the role of having parents with psychiatric symptoms and the perceptions of the adolescents of parental acceptance and rejection in empathy development. METHOD The study sample consisted of 101 adolescents of 12-16 years of ages diagnosed with ADHD and 50 adolescents as the control group. K-SADS-PL is used for the DSM-IV diagnoses and WISC-R is applied to the participants with ADHD. Both the ADHD and the control groups were evaluated with the Basic Empathy Scale, Parental Acceptance-Rejection/Control Questionnaire and the Young Self Report. The parents completed the Sociodemographic information form, Child Behavior Checklist and the Symptom Checklist-90- Revised; and the teachers completed the Teacher Report Form. RESULTS There was no significant difference between ADHD and control group about basic empathy scale scores. The and emotional empathy scores were significantly lower in ADHD group with comorbid Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) than ADHD group with no comorbidity. CONCLUSION In our study having only ADHD had no effect on empathy levels, ODD comorbidity was related to lower basic and emotional empathy levels. In order to determine causal/temporal relations, prospective studies, studies with larger sample sizes and with more homogenous groups are needed.