To What Extent Does Emotional Dysregulation Account for Aggression Associated with ADHD
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To what extent does emotional dysregulation account for aggression associated with ADHD symptoms? An experience sampling study Aja Murray1, Jennifer Lavoie2, Tom Booth1, Manuel Eisner2,3, Denis Ribeaud3 1Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh 2Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge 3Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich Abstract Previous research has suggested that aggression is associated with ADHD symptoms and that this may partly reflect problems with emotional regulation. However, previous tests of this hypothesis have yielded inconsistent results and have focused on childhood. In this study we examined the role of emotional dysregulation in the association between ADHD symptoms and aggression in adulthood using experience-sampling derived measures of emotional dysregulation as it occurs in the context of daily life. Data came from the D2M study, a sub-study of the longitudinal z-proso study. Using structural equation modelling, we found that ADHD symptoms were associated with both emotional lability and aggression, but emotional lability did not mediate the ADHD-aggression association. Results suggest that other factors, such as those specifically related to behavioural dysregulation, may be more important for explaining the elevated levels of aggression in ADHD. Aggression commonly occurs with ADHD symptoms, where it represents a major source of impairment. In childhood it represents one of the most common reasons for referral to mental health services, can undermine the formation of healthy peer relationships, and can interfere with academic functioning (e.g., see Saylor & Amann, 2016 for a review). Towards and during emerging adulthood, defined as the period between 18 and 25 years, both aggression and ADHD symptoms decline on average; however, many individuals continue to experience symptoms into adulthood, putting them at risk of lifelong psychosocial impairment (e.g., Döpfner et al., 2015; Von Polier et al., 2012). Emerging adulthood is often considered a critical period with respect to aggression. It is at this stage that individuals are afforded opportunities to adopt new prosocial roles (e.g., gaining employment and/or entering long-term intimate partnerships) that promote desistence from antisocial activities, including aggression, whilst also undergoing psychological maturation to attain improved perspective-taking, responsibility, and temperance (Monahan et al., 2013; Wensveen et al., 2017). However, individuals, such as those with ADHD symptoms, who have difficulties in adopting these new roles and/or who continue to experience difficulties in domains such as impulse control may be particularly vulnerable to a persistent pattern of aggression into adulthood. Thus, there is considerable interest in identifying the mechanisms that put individuals with ADHD symptoms at risk of aggression such that these can be targeted in interventions. This may be especially important during critical periods such as emerging adulthood. In this study, we therefore examined a potential malleable factor that can be targeted in interventions and tested the hypothesis that emotional dysregulation mediates the association between ADHD symptoms and aggression in emerging adulthood. It has been proposed that individuals who experience elevated ADHD symptoms may be particularly prone to certain types of aggression (Bennett et al., 2004; Murray et al., 2016). In particular, a distinction can be made between reactive forms of aggression, which are impulsive, and emotionally ‘hot’ and proactive forms of aggression, which are cold, calculated and instrumental acts (Raine et al., 2006). Previous research suggests that while reactive and proactive aggression are highly correlated, they do emerge as separate factors in factor analyses and have partially distinct patterns of correlates, developmental trajectories, and treatment responses (e.g., Cui et al., 2016; Hubbard et al., 2010; Polman et al., 2007; Raine et al., 2006; Vitaro et al., 1998). Reactive aggression has been argued to be particularly linked to ADHD, the rationale being that under-controlled responses to provocation that define reactive aggression reflect exactly the kind of self-regulation difficulties that are assumed to be core to ADHD (Bennett et al., 2004; Murray et al., 2016; Saylor & Amann, 2016). However, several studies have shown that while ADHD symptoms are indeed strongly associated with reactive aggression, they also correlate with proactive aggression (Bennett et al., 2004; Murray et al., 2016, 2018). One proposed explanation for the association with proactive aggression is that it reflects an indirect association via peer deviancy training. That is, the ADHD-proactive aggression association is hypothesised to reflect the fact that individuals with ADHD symptoms tend to be rejected by normative peers and consequently gravitate towards anti- social peers who may model proactive aggression (Bennett et al., 2004). However, it is not inconceivable that there is also a direct effect of ADHD symptoms on proactive aggression. For example, utilising aggression may be perceived as a quicker route to achieving a desired end for individuals with ADHD and attendant poor delay tolerance and a diminished ability to persist with longer term but more socially acceptable strategies. Though previous discussions have not always distinguished reactive and proactive functions of aggression, a prominent idea regarding the link between ADHD symptoms and aggression is that emotional dysregulation plays an important role. Emotional dysregulation is commonly associated with ADHD symptoms, where it exceeds general population levels for both children and adults (Donfrancesco et al., 2015; Reimherr et al., 2005) and is associated with a range of functional impairments (Anastopoulos et al., 2011). Though current diagnostic criteria do not recognise it as such, it has been argued by some to represent a potential core symptom of ADHD, alongside behavioural dysregulation, which is currently recognised among the core symptoms (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Faraone et al., 2019; Shaw et al., 2015). Emotional dysregulation can be conceptualised as having multiple facets and possible instantiations (see Faraone et al., 2019 for a review); however, Slaughter et al. (2019) proposed that the lability of negative emotions may be a particularly relevant for explaining the link between ADHD and aggression. Slaughter et al. (2019) hypothesised a particular link with reactive aggression, arguing that the link with proactive aggression, which they note is not emotion-based, may be related to other factors. Negative emotional lability can be defined as the tendency to experience sharp, intense shifts of negative emotion (e.g., anger, sadness, fear) that are not commensurate with situation or developmental stage (e.g., Posner et al., 2014). Though useful questionnaire measures of emotional lability have been developed, negative emotional lability is arguably best operationalised using experience sampling designs that can capture changes in emotions from moment-to-moment in the course of daily life (Factor et al., 2014; Skirrow et al., 2014; Van Liefferinge et al., 2018; Walerius et al., 2016, 2018). As they are completed during or shortly after a relevant event (e.g., which could include the experience of an affective state), experience sampling measures of emotional lability have greater ecological validity and can help overcome issues such as retrospective recall bias that affect questionnaire measures (Rosen & Factor, 2015). Thus, studies that have used experience sampling designs are especially valuable in assessing a mediating role of emotional dysregulation in the association between ADHD symptoms and aggression (e.g., Leaberry et al., 2017; Rosen & Factor, 2015; Slaughter et al., 2019). While Slaughter et al. (2019) did not directly test whether experience sampling derived negative emotional lability mediated the association between ADHD symptoms and reactive aggression, all three variables were significantly correlated in their study of n=96 children (53 of whom had ADHD), which is suggestive of at least a partial mediating effect. ADHD symptoms and negative emotional lability were also correlated with proactive aggression, suggesting that ostensibly non-emotion driven forms of aggression are also related – directly or indirectly – to emotional lability. Other studies have provided additional preliminary evidence for a potential mediating role of negative emotional lability in the association between ADHD symptoms and aggression. Rosen & Factor, (2015) found that experience sampling derived emotional lability (positive affect and negative affect were not distinguished) based on parent reports was significantly associated with proactive aggression (r=.62) in a sample of n=27 children with ADHD. However, others have found only partial evidence. Rosen et al. (2015) found in a sample of n=102 children that while experience sampling derived emotional lability was significantly correlated with proactive aggression, it was not correlated with ADHD diagnostic status nor reactive aggression. There thus remains a need for further clarification of the role of negative emotional lability in aggression associated with ADHD symptoms. While there have been no direct experience sampling-based studies examining the relations between ADHD symptoms, emotional lability, and aggression in emerging adults, available evidence is generally consistent with the