Term of Award

Spring 2024

Degree Name

Master of Science in Experimental Psychology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Dorthie Cross

Committee Member 1

Larry Locker

Committee Member 2

Karen Naufel

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships among Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and common comorbid struggles for clients, including Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) symptoms, and executive functions, especially emotion regulation. ADHD and GAD are prevalent mental health conditions, are commonly comorbid with each other, and are both correlated with relative deficits in executive functions. Executive functions comprise higher-order cognitive processes like planning, inhibition, initiation, and monitoring, as well as emotion regulation. Prior research established connections among ADHD symptoms, GAD symptoms, and emotion regulation but did not examine which specific facets of emotion regulation were most relevant. The current study aimed to replicate previous research by examining the relationships among ADHD, GAD, and emotion regulation and extend it by exploring the specific facets of emotion regulation implicated, particularly for ADHD. Two hundred twenty-two adults (M age = 25.17, SD = 8.81) from a university student population and online forums completed an online survey of current ADHD and GAD symptoms, executive functions, and emotion regulation. Results showed that ADHD and GAD symptoms correlated positively with each other and with deficits in executive functions and emotion regulation. ADHD symptoms correlated positively with all facets of emotion regulation difficulties, but there were significant differences across the facets in the magnitudes of those correlations. The implications of this research may be informative for researchers, psychologists, and other mental health professionals focused on ADHD and GAD by enhancing the relevance of therapeutic strategies for clients with these diagnoses. By shedding light on the intricate relationships between ADHD, GAD, executive functions, and emotion regulation, the study findings may provide insights that could guide effective design and implementation of emotion regulation-based interventions for clients with ADHD.

OCLC Number

1437797539

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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