The relation between difficulties in empathic responding and reading comprehension performance in children with ADHD: comparisons by subtype
Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are faced with \nmany challenges throughout their school years. Two of the most commonly reported \nobstacles are related to social and academic functioning. Regarding social skills \nproblems, children with ADHD have demonstrated increased difficulty in responding \nempathically in social situations due to a reduced ability to take the perspective of others \n(Barkley, 1997b; Braaten & Rosen, 2000; Westby & Cutler, 1994). Regarding academic \nchallenges, children with ADHD seem to have a particularly problematic time with \nreading comprehension (Westby, 2002). Comprehension of the psychological causeeffect \nrelations in a narrative depends on the reader’s ability to understand the \nmotivations and intentions of the character by engaging in perspective taking (Westby, \n1999). Thus, children with ADHD may experience difficulty empathizing with characters \nwhile reading. \nvii \nThis dissertation study investigated empathy and reading comprehension \ndifficulties in children with ADHD. Subtype differences were examined. Groups were \nfirst compared on a self-perception scale measuring the frequency of engagement in \nempathic behaviors. Results indicated that children with the combined type of ADHD \n(ADHD-C) rated themselves as engaging in significantly less empathic behaviors than \nchildren in the ADHD, Predominately Inattentive group (ADHD-PI). Therefore, subtype \ndifferences were found to exist in the self-perception of empathy and interventions need \nto be tailored accordingly. On a measure of reading comprehension, results indicated \nsignificantly poorer performance for the ADHD-PI group than the control group. Thus, \nthis finding is consistent with previous research that children with ADHD-PI have \nincreased difficulty with academics. \nEmpathy while reading was explored. Results indicated that severity of ADHD \nsymptoms rather than group membership contributed significantly to empathy difficulties \nwhile reading. Thus, it is important for educators to understand that children with \nsubclinical symptoms of ADHD may have difficulty inferring a character’s emotions and \nmotivations while reading. In addition, empathy was found to mediate the relationship \nbetween the diagnosis of ADHD-PI and reading comprehension performance. Therefore, \nreading comprehension interventions should be designed to teach children with ADHDPI \nthe necessary skills to infer the psychological cause-effect relations in a story, thereby \nfacilitating their comprehension of the narrative. Limitations and future directions were \ndiscussed.
Author: Emily Marie Strassner
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1956798464