Cognitive and behavioural predictors of adolescents' communicative perspective-taking and social relationships.
Given the pivotal role that social interactions play for adolescents' well-being, understanding the factors that influence communication is key. The present study examined relations between adolescents' communicative perspective-taking, executive function skills, and ADHD traits and explored the role communicative perspective-taking plays in peer relations. Data was collected from a community sample of 15 to 19-years-olds (N = 46) in Waterloo, Canada. Two communicative perspective-taking tasks required participants to infer speakers' communicative intentions. A battery of tasks assessed adolescents' working memory and inhibitory control. Elevated ADHD traits were associated with weaker working memory, inhibitory control, and communicative perspective-taking. Working memory was the strongest predictor of communicative perspective-taking. Highlighting the importance of communicative perspective-taking for social interactions, adolescents with weaker skills in this area reported worse peer relations. Findings underscore the importance of communicative perspective-taking for adolescents' social relations and have relevance for understanding the social difficulties faced by adolescents with elevated ADHD traits.
Centre for Mental Health Research, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada. Electronic address: enilsen@uwaterloo.ca.
Elizabeth S
ES
Nilsen
Centre for Mental Health Research, Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada.
Sarah A
SA
Bacso
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology; D003142:Communication; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
ADHD; Adolescence; Communication; Communicative perspective-taking; Executive functioning; Working memory