Abstract
Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often experience academic challenges such as frequent homework difficulties. A subset of children with ADHD exhibit clinically significant levels of affect variability that may contribute to ADHD-related impairment such as homework difficulties. The present study sought to examine the relations between negative and positive affect variability and the two domains of homework problems (i.e., homework management and homework completion) in children with ADHD. It was hypothesized that both negative and positive affect variability would be associated with homework completion and homework management difficulties in children with ADHD. Participants (n = 47) included parents of 7–11-year-old children (M = 8.36, SD = 1.31) with ADHD. During the baseline session, parents completed a structured diagnostic interview and questionnaire measures to assess children’s homework problems, ADHD symptoms, and related psychiatric conditions. Subsequently, parents provided ecological momentary assessments (EMA) ratings of their children’s positive and negative affect three times daily over a one-week period. Results indicate that, while controlling for ADHD symptom severity, positive affect variability was significantly associated with homework management but not completion difficulties in children with ADHD; negative affect variability was not associated with homework problems in either domain. The current study highlights the importance of positive affect regulation in children’s navigation of the homework process, and results suggest that children with ADHD who struggle with homework management difficulties might benefit from homework interventions that incorporate positive affect regulation strategies.
Highlights
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Positive affect variability is associated with homework management difficulties in children with ADHD.
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Negative affect variability is not significantly associated with homework problems in children with ADHD.
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Positive affect variability estimates homework management difficulties even when controlling for ADHD symptom severity.
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References
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Alacha, H.F., Rosen, P.J. & Bufferd, S.J. Positive Affect Variability is Associated with Homework Management Difficulties in Children with ADHD. J Child Fam Stud (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-024-02852-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-024-02852-9