Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Apr;47(4):605-617.
doi: 10.1007/s10802-018-0470-2.

Sensitivity to Peer Feedback in Young Adolescents with Symptoms of ADHD: Examination of Neurophysiological and Self-Report Measures

Dara E Babinski  1 , Autumn Kujawa  2 , Ellen M Kessel  3 , Kodi B Arfer  4 , Daniel N Klein  3
Affiliations

Sensitivity to Peer Feedback in Young Adolescents with Symptoms of ADHD: Examination of Neurophysiological and Self-Report Measures

Dara E Babinski et al. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2019 Apr.

Abstract

Many youth with ADHD experience peer difficulties, but the mechanisms underlying this dysfunction remain unknown. Very little work has examined neurophysiological measures of social feedback processing in relation to ADHD symptoms. The goal of this study was to examine associations of ADHD symptoms with indicators of sensitivity to social feedback in a laboratory task and self-report of rejection sensitivity. A large community sample of 10- to 15-year-old adolescents (N = 391; Mage = 12.64, 48.6% girls) participated in the study. Mothers rated youth ADHD symptoms. Youth completed the Island Getaway task, which elicits neurophysiological (i.e., event-related potentials [ERP]) measures of sensitivity to peer rejection and acceptance feedback, and also completed self-ratings of rejection sensitivity. Greater ADHD symptoms were associated with an enhanced N1 ERP component, which correlated with higher levels of self-reported rejection sensitivity. In addition, greater ADHD symptoms were associated with reduced reactivity to social acceptance, as measured by the later reward positivity ERP component. Youth with elevated ADHD symptoms exhibited enhanced sensitivity to peer rejection at the neurophysiological and self-report level, as well as reduced neurophysiological reactivity to peer acceptance. Future work including neural measures of social functioning may serve to elucidate mechanisms underlying the social dysfunction characteristic of ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD; Event-related potential (ERP); Peer feedback; Rejection; Social processes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
ERPs (negative up) at Cz and scalp distributions of responses to social acceptance and rejection feedback for children low and high in ADHD symptoms. Note: A median split was computed for illustrative purposes. Scalp distributions reflect the relative response to acceptance vs. rejection feedback (i.e., rejection minus acceptance difference for N1; acceptance minus rejection difference for RewP).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Achenbach TM, & Rescorla L (2001). ASEBA school-age forms and profiles Burlington, VT: Aseba.
    1. Andrade BF, Waschbusch DA, Doucet A, King S, MacKinnon M, McGrath PJ, … Corkum P (2012). Social information processing of positive and negative hypothetical events in children with ADHD and conduct problems and controls. Journal of Attention Disorders, 16, 491–504. 10.1177/1087054711401346 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Axelson D, Birmaher B, Zelazny J, Kaufman J, & Gill MK (2009). The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) 2009 Working Draft Advanced Center for Intervention and Services Research, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic; (http://www.psychiatry.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/Documents/assessments...).
    1. Becker MPI, Nitsch AM, Miltner WHR, & Straube T (2014). A single-trial estimation of the feedback-related negativity and its relation to BOLD responses in a time-estimation task. Journal of Neuroscience, 34, 3005–3012. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3684-13.2014 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Becker SP, Luebbe AM, & Langberg JM (2012). Co-occurring mental health problems and peer functioning among youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a review and recommendations for future research. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 15, 279–302. 10.1007/s10567-012-0122-y - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources