Abnormal Psychology

Childhood Disorders 663

In addition, children with ADHD appear to have an attributional style that

leaves them vulnerable to low self-esteem. In one study (Milich, 1994), children

with ADHD initially overestimated their ability to succeed in a challenging task,

and—when confronted with failure—boys with ADHD became more frustrated and

were less likely to persist with the challenging task than were boys in a control

group. Moreover, in another study (Collett & Gimpel, 2004), children with ADHD

attributed the cause of negative events to global and stable characteristics about

themselves (“I am a failure”) rather than external, situational factors (“That was

a very challenging task”). Conversely, children with ADHD were more likely than

children without a psychological disorder to attribute positive events to external,

situational causes. These attribution patterns were observed regardless of whether

children were taking medication for ADHD. And such patterns are often seen in peo-

ple who experience low self-esteem (Sweeney, Anderson, & Bailey, 1986; Tennen &

Herzberger, 1987).

Low self-esteem among those with ADHD isn’t restricted to children. One study

compared college students with and without ADHD and matched them to control

participants who had comparable demographic variables and grade-point averages;

students with ADHD reported lower self-esteem and social skills than did students

without ADHD (Shaw-Zirt et al., 2005). Other studies report lower self-esteem

among adolescents with ADHD (Slomkowski, Klein, & Mannuzza, 1995).

Furthermore, problems with self-esteem are not limited to people with ADHD

but are also present in those who have other disorders of disruptive behavior. How-

ever, people with oppositional defi ant disorder and conduct disorder often fall at

the ends of a self-esteem continuum: They either have low self-esteem or they have

overly infl ated self-esteem—believing themselves to be superior in ways that are not

corroborated by their characteristics or behavior.

Social Factors: Blame and Credit

The self-esteem of children with ADHD may also be related to their parents’ attri-

butions: Although parents don’t necessarily blame their children for ADHD-related

behaviors, they don’t give their children as much credit for positive behaviors as do

parents of children without ADHD (Johnston & Freeman, 1997). The parents of

children with ADHD tend to attribute children’s positive behaviors to random situ-

ational factors.

Parents of children with ADHD may also feel frustrated and pessimistic about

their children’s abilities and behavior. In a study aimed at exploring these emotions,

researchers compared the feelings of parents of children (aged 7 to 12) with and

without ADHD while each child-parent pair was engaged in either “getting ready”

activities (such as getting ready to leave the house to go to school) or “other” activities

(Whalen et. al. 2006). Each parent carried around a personal digital assistant (PDA)

that beeped at unpredictable times. At the sound of the beep, parents fi lled in an

electronic diary that asked about the current activity and parents’ feelings. Parents of

children with ADHD reported spending more time on “getting ready” activities. They

also reported more feelings of anger and stress, were less likely to be in a good mood,

and had more arguments with their children during such activities than did parents

of children without ADHD. Although the researchers did not observe the actual

behaviors of the parents, it is reasonable to surmise that any parent who reported

negative feelings may have acted toward his or her child in ways that refl ected these

feelings—either overtly and explictly, or by being irritable or impatient.

For people diagnosed with oppositional defi ant disorder or conduct disorder, all

of the social factors associated with ADHD play a role, as do many of the factors

that give rise to antisocial personality disorder: harsh or inconsistent punishment

and a family history of substance abuse or antisocial personality disorder. In fact,

studies have demonstrated that psychological and social factors play a larger role in

oppositional defi ant disorder and conduct disorder than in ADHD (Frick & Muñoz,

2006). However, genetic factors can also account for part of the effect of these social

People with ADHD can have diffi culty picking up

on certain social cues—specifi cally, they may not

recognize the facial expressions that correspond

to anger and sadness.

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