Do emotional intelligence, dysregulation and theory of mind predict irritability in adolescents with DMDD and ADHD?

The aim of this study was to compare adolescents with disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) and comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and healthy control adolescents in terms of emotional intelligence (EI), emotion regulation (ER) and theory of mind (ToM) abilities.

Twenty-eight adolescents with DMDD and ADHD formed the DMDD group were compared to 31 healthy controls. We administered the Affective Reactivity Index (ARI), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Kiddie-SADS, Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Test, Faux Pas, Comprehension Test, Unexpected Outcomes Test, Faces Test and Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) as ToM skills.

ARI and DERS scores were significantly elevated in the DMDD-ADHD group. The DMDD-ADHD group had significantly lower ToM skills and emotional intelligence (p < .05). When RMET, Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Test -general mood, DERS- impulsivity scores were compared between the groups, their effect sizes were as follows: 0.52, 0.81, 0.79, respectively. DERS, emotional intelligence and ToM scores were correlated in the DMDD group. In the linear regression analysis, the sole significant predictors of self-reported irritability were EI and ED total scores.

This study suggests that adolescents with DMDD and ADHD face difficulties in peer relationships, mentalizing, various domains of emotional intelligence andregulation. .