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What Predicts Life Satisfaction in Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)? A Study from Parent and Child/Adolescent Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2021

Trinidad García Open the ORCID record for Trinidad García [Opens in a new window] ,
Estrella Fernández Open the ORCID record for Estrella Fernández [Opens in a new window] ,
Miriam Villalba Open the ORCID record for Miriam Villalba [Opens in a new window] ,
Débora Areces Open the ORCID record for Débora Areces [Opens in a new window]  and
Celestino Rodríguez Open the ORCID record for Celestino Rodríguez [Opens in a new window]
Trinidad García
Affiliation:
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
Estrella Fernández*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
Miriam Villalba
Affiliation:
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
Débora Areces
Affiliation:
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
Celestino Rodríguez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Estrella Fernández. Universidad de Oviedo. Facultad de Psicología. 33003Oviedo (Spain). E-mail: fernandezestrella@uniovi.es. Phone: +34–985103280.
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Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze life satisfaction in a sample of 70 children and adolescents (M = 12.21, SD = 2.85) with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to parents’ and children’s/adolescents’ reports. In addition, we examined the influence of a series of child/adolescent variables (ADHD presentation, and Conduct Disorder (CD) symptoms, age, gender, and pharmacological support status) on their levels of life satisfaction. Results indicated moderate correlations between children’s/adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of life satisfaction (r = .40; p < .01), with school being the area with the lowest levels of satisfaction. Also, 44.3% of the sample of parents reported that ADHD drastically interferes negatively in this context. Examining the effects of child/adolescent variables, only the variables age and CD symptoms generated statistically significant differences, showing that as children/adolescents grow up and/or present associate symptoms of CD, perceptions of life satisfaction tend to be more negative. These variables explained 34.5% of the variance of a composite score of life satisfaction, demonstrating a negative effect over the dependent variable. These results might have important implications for diagnosis and intervention in ADHD, as they highlight the relevance of considering life satisfaction as an important aspect to consider in both processes. Further studies must look more deeply into the mechanisms that explain these findings.

Keywords

adolescentsageADHDchildrenconduct disorderlife satisfactionparents
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 24 , 2021 , e12
Copyright
© Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2021

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Footnotes

Conflicts of Interest: None.

Funding Statement: This work was supported by the project I+D+I under Grant PID2019–107201GB–100; and the regional project (Government of the Principality of Asturias) under Grant FCGRUPIN–IDI/2018/000199.

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