Emotional reactions in adults with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Adults with a high number of symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) were examined with regard to their emotional reactions to reward and punishment, emotional intensity, and the traits of introversion/extraversion and neuroticism. The Emotional Reactions to External Consequences Scale (ERECS) was developed to assess the strength of a person's emotion in relationship to perceived reward and punishment situations. The Emotional Intensity Scale (Bachorowski & Braaten, 1994) was used to measure the intensity of a person's emotional experience, while the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975) was used as a measure of extraversion and neuroticism. When adults with high symptoms of ADHD were compared with controls, the high symptom group had lower subjective emotional responses to negative consequences and scored higher on measures of extraversion and neuroticism. There were no differences between groups on emotional intensity. The results indicate that while adults with symptoms of ADHD do not appear to differ on emotional intensity when compared with control subjects, they do appear to have a lower emotional response to situations involving punishment. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.