When Self and Others Disagree: Informant Discrepancies in ADHD and ASD and Psychosocial Outcomes

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Informant discrepancies between self- and proxy-reports are common in children with ADHD.
• It is unclear if these discrepancies are unique to ADHD or present in other conditions like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
• The relationship between informant discrepancies and psychological outcomes requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if informant discrepancies are specific to ADHD compared to ASD and neurotypical peers.
• To explore whether children with ADHD perceive their abilities differently than their parents.
• To analyze the association between informant discrepancies and psychological outcomes in children with ADHD.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: Compared informant discrepancies in social abilities and behavior among children with ADHD, ASD, and neurotypical (ND) peers.
• Study 2: Examined psychological outcomes, including self-confidence and internalizing/externalizing symptoms, in relation to informant discrepancies in children with ADHD and ND peers.
• Utilized parallel questionnaires for child self-reports and parent proxy-reports.

Main Results:

• Informant discrepancies in social functioning were specific to children with ADHD, who underestimated their difficulties compared to parent reports.
• Children with ASD and ND peers showed alignment between self- and parent-reports.
• In ADHD, informant discrepancies correlated positively with self-confidence and externalizing behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Informant discrepancies in children are specific to ADHD and confined to social functioning.
• The link between informant discrepancies and psychological outcomes in ADHD warrants clinical consideration.