title: Social Skills Deficits in a Virtual Environment Among Spanish Children With ADHD.
abstract: Research assessing the social skills of children with ADHD has predominantly relied upon North American samples. In addition, most existing work has been conducted using methodology that fails to use a controlled peer stimulus; such methods may be more vulnerable to cultural influence.
  
  
  
  We examined the social skills of 52 Spanish children (ages 8-12) with and without ADHD using a controlled Chat Room Task, which simulates a virtual social environment where peers' responses are held constant, so that participants' social skills may be assessed.
  
  
  
  After statistical control of typing and reading comprehension skills, Spanish children with ADHD gave fewer prosocial comments and had greater difficulty remembering central details from the conversation between the peers, relative to comparison children.
  
  
  
  The virtual Chat Room Task may be useful to assess social skills deficits using a controlled paradigm, resulting in the identification of common social deficiencies cross-culturally.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: García-Castellar
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jara-Jiménez
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
authors.forename: Desirée
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Chiva
authors.affiliation: 2 University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: Amori Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Mikami
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003142:Communication; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D066107:Social Skills
keywords: ADHD; Chat Room Task; Spain; cross-cultural; social skills