Impact of anxiety traits on social impairments in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

ZHANG Linlin; WU Zhaomin; WANG Peng; CAO Xiaolan; LIU Juan; WANG Yufeng; YANG Binrang

doi:10.11852/zgetbjzz2023-0980

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Chinese Journal of Child Health Care ›› 2024, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (6) : 597-601. DOI: 10.11852/zgetbjzz2023-0980

Original Articles

Impact of anxiety traits on social impairments in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

ZHANG Linlin¹, WU Zhaomin¹, WANG Peng², CAO Xiaolan¹, LIU Juan¹, WANG Yufeng³, YANG Binrang¹

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Abstract

Objective To investigate the impact of anxiety traits on social impairments in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD), in order to provide reference for the treatment of ADHD. Methods From June 2017 to December 2020, a total of 205 ADHD children and 53 healthy controls were recruited from Child Healthcare and Mental Health Center of Shenzhen Children's Hospital. According to their scores in the anxiety problem factor from the Conners Parent Rating Scales, ADHD children were divided into two subgroups: ADHD with a high level of anxiety trait(ADHD+ANX) and ADHD without high level of anxiety trait(ADHD-ANX). The WEISS functional impairment rating scale-Parent form(WEISS-P) was used to assess the multiple dimensional social functioning impairment in every participant. Mediation models were built to explore the interrelationships of anxiety level and social function impairment in ADHD children. Results Compared to the healthy controls, both ADHD groups scored higher in every sub-scale from the WEISS-P. In addition, the ADHD+ANX group displayed higher scores in the family, lift skill, social activity, and risk activity sub-scales from WEISS-P than the ADHD-ANX group. Anxiety level significantly mediated the social impairments in children with ADHD. Conclusions Some of the ADHD children display higher levels of anxiety despite no current diagnosis of any anxiety disorder. In addition, a higher level of anxiety is associated with more impaired social functioning.

Key words

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder / anxiety traits / social function impariment / children

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ZHANG Linlin, WU Zhaomin, WANG Peng, CAO Xiaolan, LIU Juan, WANG Yufeng, YANG Binrang. Impact of anxiety traits on social impairments in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder[J]. Chinese Journal of Child Health Care. 2024, 32(6): 597-601 https://doi.org/10.11852/zgetbjzz2023-0980

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