Abstract
The three types of presentations of ADHD often co-occur with other disorders, anxiety being one of the most prevalent. For this reason and because there are few studies that have examined the influence of anxiety on attentional activities, this study aims to determine how internalizing difficulties (anxiety levels) can influence performance in a virtual reality continuous performance test. The study used a non-probabilistic clinical sample comprising 68 boys (66%) and 35 girls (34%) aged between 6 and 16 (M = 12.24; SD = 2.45) who had been referred to clinical services for the evaluation of ADHD symptoms. Once informed consent was given, the children were administered the STAI-C scale and a virtual reality continuous performance test by expert researchers. Hierarchical regression models showed that only state anxiety demonstrated significant explanatory power over attentional variables. These findings confirm how important it is for children to feel relaxed when they undergo psychological evaluation tests, as otherwise the individual’s intervention design would be based on biased data. Similarly, the findings also suggested an effect of IQ in the interpretation of continuous performance scores.
Highlights
Attention deficit and hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder in childhood with high prevalence of the symptoms persisting into adulthood [1,2,3].The disorder is characterized by a series of more or less stable symptoms, such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention deficit, which usually have negative consequences in family relationships, academic performance, and social and work-related functioning [4].ADHD has been shown to often co-occur with other disorders
It is useful to note that both state and trait anxiety variables demonstrated significant bivariate correlation
The present study aimed to determine the influence of anxiety levels on attentional variables
Summary
Attention deficit and hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder in childhood with high prevalence of the symptoms persisting into adulthood [1,2,3].The disorder is characterized by a series of more or less stable symptoms, such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention deficit, which usually have negative consequences in family relationships, academic performance, and social and work-related functioning [4].ADHD has been shown to often co-occur with other disorders. The disorder is characterized by a series of more or less stable symptoms, such as hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention deficit, which usually have negative consequences in family relationships, academic performance, and social and work-related functioning [4]. Other studies have shown that these children exhibit dysregulation of negative emotions such as sadness or frustration [8]. Such high rates of comorbidity make it very difficult to perform a differential diagnosis or to carry out an intervention suited to each child’s particular situation. The comorbidity of ADHD with other mental disorders (such as anxiety or depression) has been associated with significant disability and poorer quality of life, as well as impaired social and family functioning [9,10]
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