Response Inhibition, Sustained Attention and Dimensions of Empathy in Children with Externalizing Disorder

Background & purpose: Externalizing behavioral disorder is one of the most common childhood psychiatric disorders. Among the psychological components that are affected in these children are executive functions and empathy. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare response inhibition, sustained attention and dimensions of empathy in children with externalized behavioral disorders and normal children. Materials and Method: The present study was a descriptive causal-comparative study. The statistical population included elementary school students (ages 8 to 12 years) in Tabriz in the academic year of 2019-2020, of which 100 children with externalized behavioral disorder (50 girls and 50 boys) and 100 normal children (50 girls and 50 boys) were selected by cluster random sampling. multi-stage was selected using the CSI-4 teacher form questionnaire. Stroop and continuous performance tests and Dods empathy scale were used to collect data. The results were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance in SPSS20 software.   Results: The results showed that response inhibition, sustained attention, cold and hot empathy in children with externalized behavioral disorder were were less pronounced than in children without disturbances. ( F=40/57, P<0/05).   Conclusion: It can be concluded that executive functions and empathy in children with externalized behavioral disorders are impaired. Identifying and understanding these factors can help to better understand this disorder and offer different treatment strategies.