A comparative study on public, social, academic and family self-esteem in students with and without ADHD

Considering the importance of self-esteem as an influential variable in the mental health of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and also the inconsistent findings in the related literature, this study intended to compare the level of self-esteem in public, social, academic, and family contexts in students with and without ADHD.

The research design was based on the causal-comparative study. The intended first population of this study consisted of students with ADHD who had visited the child and adolescent psychiatry clinic of Razi Hospital in Tabriz during 2021 (1400 in the solar calendar); the second population was made up of healthy counterparts of this clinical group (i.e., students without ADHD). Based on the purposive sampling method, 48 students who were diagnosed with ADHD without co-occurring psychiatric disorder by a child psychiatry specialist were selected as the study group. Also, 48 healthy students from Tabriz schools were selected as the group without ADHD.

Given the obtained results, a statistically significant difference was found between the ADHD group and the non-ADHD group in light of the composite scores of the self-esteem sub-components. The findings showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the public and the family subscales, that is, the public self-esteem of the group with ADHD was higher than the mean of the general self-esteem of the non-ADHD group, and the mean of the family self-esteem of the non-ADHD group was higher than that of the ADHD group. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the social and academic subscales.

Based on the findings, it was concluded that the self-esteem of students with ADHD in their inner world is different from other individuals’ inferences about the self-esteem of these children. In other words, these children had acceptable self-esteem in their psychological world according to their psychological conditions. In addition, considering the low family self-esteem of the participants with ADHD, the behavioral quality of these children’s parents and relatives may have affected how they define family relationships and consequently, lowered their value.

Considering the obtained results, it was suggested to pay attention to these children’s self-esteem in their interventions and use the potential of this variable in controlling individual and family behaviors.