Positive Affect and ADHD: Happy but Troubled Adolescents?

Abstract

Positive affect (PA) is critical for healthy human development. However, relatively little is known about PA in children with ADHD. Data from the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescents (NCS-A) were used to examine PA and its associations with parental reports of emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents who met criteria for ADHD, one or more non-ADHD psychiatric diagnoses, and no diagnoses. Results indicated that adolescents with ADHD reported higher PA than adolescents with other psychiatric problems and comparable to those with no psychiatric diagnoses. A positive association was found between PA and behavioral problems in adolescents with ADHD symptoms, but these effects were partially accounted by shared variance with youth demographic variables. The association between PA and emotional problems was not significantly moderated by ADHD diagnostic status. Although effects were small there is a suggestion that PA works differently in ADHD youth compared to others.