title: The Relation of Poor Emotional Awareness and Externalizing Behavior Among Children With ADHD.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Children with ADHD often demonstrate poor emotional self-awareness and higher levels of externalizing behavior problems relative to unaffected children. This study examined the relation of deficient emotional self-awareness to externalizing behavior problems in children with ADHD, and the role of emotional reactivity in this relationship.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-one 8- to 12-year-old children with ADHD and their parents completed measures of the children's emotional and behavioral functioning, as well as a diagnostic structured interview.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Logistic regression suggested that more impaired emotional self-awareness was strongly associated with the diagnosis of a comorbid externalizing disorder. Hierarchical regression analyses strongly supported the relation of poor emotional awareness to reactivity-driven externalizing behavior, but not to proactive externalizing behavior. These effects were evident across reporters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggested that poor emotional self-awareness is significantly linked to externalizing problems in children with ADHD, and that dysregulated emotional reactivity plays an important role in this relationship.
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, KY, USA pifact01@louisville.edu.
authors.forename: Perry I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Factor
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.affiliation: University of Louisville, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Rachel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Reyes
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D000374:Aggression; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011859:Radiography; D012044:Regression Analysis
keywords: ADD/ADHD; emotional expression; emotional regulation; externalizing; externalizing comorbidity