Adding Fuel to the Fire: The Relationships Between ADHD, Impulsivity, and Emotion Dysregulation (2024)

Undergraduate: Gracie Tharin

Faculty Advisor: Jessica Cohen
Department: Psychology and Neuroscience

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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Increased hyperactive-impulsive symptoms have been related to increased emotion dysregulation (ED) among adolescents. However, research examining the impact of impulsivity as an individual predictor of ED in adolescents and how it differs between ADHD and typically developing (TD) adolescents is lacking. To examine this relationship using t-tests and regression analyses, 23 TD and 52 ADHD adolescents and their parents completed surveys targeting the adolescents’ levels of impulsivity and ability to regulate their emotions. ADHD adolescents demonstrated significantly higher self-reported ED, parent-reported ED, and parent-reported impulsivity than their TD peers. Impulsivity was a significant predictor of ED in both ADHD and TD adolescents such that increasing impulsivity predicted increasing ED. Interestingly, ADHD was not a significant moderator in the relationship between impulsivity and ED. Our results suggest that understanding the role of impulsivity may be critical to improving emotion regulation across all youth. This study adds to the understanding of impulsivity as a dimensional variable that impacts emotion regulation across groups.