Friendship potential, knowledge, skills, and expectations of Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder and normal children

Friendship 2 The present study assessed the differences in the friendship patterns of nonmedicated children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and children without the disorder. 22 children with ADHD and 23 normal controls and each of their friends completed an interview designed to evaluate their friendship potential, knowledge, skills, expectations, and quality. These children were divided at age 9 years, 8 months into younger and older groups in order to assess age differences across the variables. Results illustrated that children with ADHD have lower levels of friendship potential than children without ADHD especially in terms of their degree of similarity with their friends. Children with ADHD also have deficits in their friendship skills and in their expectations of friends. Differences across intimate and total knowledge of the friend were found for the variable of age. The only interaction across variables was found for the presence of conflict in the friendship, and this interaction was contrary to the hypothesized direction. Overall, children with ADHD apparently lack the ability to develop successful relationships which aid in social development primarily due to their inattentiveness to social process and performance and their maturational lag.