Mutuality and intimacy in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and normal boys\u27 friendship relations

The present study explored both the frequency and patterns of affective expression, play duration, and communicative exchange among dyads of boys diagnosed with ADHD with their friend. As expected, few significant differences between the two groups were revealed through frequency analyses, but interesting findings resulted from the examination of the patterns of behaviors (through sequential analyses). Overall, the results supported the hypothesis of less mutuality and intimacy in the friendships of boys diagnosed with ADHD. The boys in the ADHD/friend dyads were found to spend more time in nonassociative play during free-play and to be less likely to return to positive interaction after a shift to nonassociative play. In addition, the communicative exchange of the children in the AD HD/friend dyads was marked by marginally more conflict than was the communication between the normal/friend dyads. The patterns of communicative exchange revealed fewer shifts to reinforcement and personal information exchange by the ADHD children in their dyads, as well as overall fewer friend responses and more consecutive attention-directing shifts in the ADHD/friend dyads. Thus, as evidenced by these behaviors, it appears that the friendships of boys diagnosed with ADHD may be characterized by less mutuality and less intimacy than the friendships of normal control boys