How empathy affects social skills in ADHD

Research indicates that adults with ADHD might find emotional empathy more challenging, which can affect the quality of their friendships. Emotional empathy involves understanding and sharing the feelings of others, a crucial aspect of building and maintaining relationships. In a study comparing adults with subclinical ADHD to healthy controls, those with ADHD showed reduced emotional empathy. This difference suggests that the difficulties in forming deep connections might stem from challenges in empathizing with others' emotional states.

In the context of ADHD, empathy appears to vary not only by diagnosis but also by gender. A study focusing on children with ADHD revealed that girls with ADHD rated themselves as more empathetic compared to boys. Moreover, parents observed that children with ADHD generally displayed lower levels of empathy, with boys being perceived as less empathetic than girls.

Empathy in boys with ADHD is particularly challenging, as evidenced by a study comparing their empathic responses to those of non-ADHD peers. Boys with ADHD showed not only lower levels of empathy but also had difficulty matching their emotions to those of characters in stories and interpreting their reactions to these narratives. This suggests that their challenges with empathy extend beyond interpersonal interactions and affect their ability to engage with emotional content more broadly.

The effectiveness of social skills training (SST) for children with ADHD presents a complex picture. One study found that SST, particularly in heterogeneous groups, led to improvements in cooperation, empathy, and assertion among children with ADHD. These findings suggest that SST could be a beneficial tool for enhancing certain social competencies in children with ADHD.

When examining the broader effectiveness of social skills training for children with ADHD, the results are mixed. One report indicated that while children with ADHD saw a minor improvement in social skills from training, this boost was not substantial enough to alter their daily social interactions significantly. Additionally, while ADHD treatments, including medication, were found to improve social functioning, there wasn't a clear advantage to adding social skills training. This suggests that while children with ADHD can understand social cues similarly to their peers, the primary challenge lies in applying these skills effectively.

Investigating why children with ADHD struggle with social interactions, one study proposed that the issue might not be a lack of knowledge about social skills but rather a difficulty in consistently applying them. This distinction is crucial because it suggests that interventions for ADHD might need to focus more on helping children use their social skills in various situations rather than just teaching them these skills.

The good news is that treating ADHD may be able to improve social functioning and self-esteem. Most studies that have examined this found that ADHD treatment can improve self-esteem and social functioning.