Comparison of alexithymia in children with and without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The main objective of this research was to compare alexithymia in children with and without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The Method of study was expo-facto. The statistical population of this study consisted of all primary school male students with ADHD and normal students in Esfahan City who were selected by cluster random sampling method. At first, the Conner's Parents Rating Scale (CPRS, 1960) and Conner's Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS, 1997) for each of the children were completed. In the second phase, 120 children who were on the high end (those who had the highest score in the Conner's questionnaire) were invited to clinical interviews. Finally, two groups of 100 people; 50 with ADHD (11 girls and 39 boys) and 50 normal (15 girls and 35 boys) were compared using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) (Bagby, Parker & Taylor, 1994). The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed that the scores of children with ADHD in the components of alexithymia, inability to identify emotions, inability to describe emotions and external thinking style were significantly more than normal children. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that children with ADHD have some morphological characteristics and are inadequate in emotional responses. Therefore, attention to the emotional issues of people with ADHD is considered more important than past.