Emotional symptoms are increasingly considered a core feature of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We aimed to quantify the evidence of emotional dysregulation and its respective facets in individuals with adult ADHD compared to healthy controls using meta-analysis. Two electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO) were reviewed to identify studies. Studies were eligible for inclusion that had reports on any measure of emotion (dys) regulation in adults (> 18 years of age) in clinically diagnosed patients with ADHD as well as healthy control participants. We included a total of 13 studies (N = 2535) to assess (1) the standardized mean difference in emotion dysregulation (ED) as a general factor and its specific facets (i.e., emotional lability, negative emotional responses, and emotion recognition) between adults with ADHD and healthy controls; and (2) the association between ADHD symptom severity and ED. Compared to healthy controls, adults with ADHD revealed significantly higher levels of general ED (Hedges’ g = 1.17, p < 0.001; Hedges’ g is the adjusted effect size). With regard to intermediate dimensions of ED, emotional lability exhibited the strongest weighted effect (Hedges’ g = 1.20, CI [0.57, 1.83], p < 0.001). Furthermore, symptom severity and general ED correlated significantly (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). Regarding intermediate dimensions of ED, negative emotional responses correlated closely with ADHD symptom severity (r = 0.63, p < 0.001) and emotional lability (r = 0.52, p < 0.001). Our findings support ED symptoms as a core feature of ADHD’s psychopathology. With respect to dimensions of ED, emotional lability, and negative emotional responses play a more definitive role in the psychopathology of adults with ADHD. Due to insufficient statistical reports in the included studies, we could not perform meta-regressions to control the role of moderator variables.

中文翻译：

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患有注意力缺陷多动障碍的成年人的情绪失调：一项荟萃分析。


情绪症状越来越被认为是注意力缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD）的核心特征。我们的目的是使用荟萃分析来量化成人多动症患者与健康对照者情绪失调及其各自方面的证据。对两个电子数据库（PubMed、PsycINFO）进行了审查以确定研究。研究符合纳入条件，该研究报告了临床诊断的 ADHD 患者以及健康对照参与者的成人（> 18 岁）情绪（dys）调节的任何测量结果。我们总共纳入了 13 项研究 (N = 2535)，以评估 (1) 情绪失调 (ED) 作为一般因素及其具体方面（即情绪不稳定、负面情绪反应和情绪识别）之间的标准化平均差异。患有多动症且健康对照的成年人； (2) ADHD 症状严重程度与 ED 之间的关联。与健康对照相比，患有 ADHD 的成年人的一般 ED 水平显着较高（Hedges' g = 1.17，p < 0.001；Hedges' g 是调整后的效应大小）。对于 ED 的中间维度，情绪不稳定性表现出最强的加权效应（Hedges' g = 1.20，CI [0.57, 1.83]，p < 0.001）。此外，症状严重程度和一般 ED 显着相关（r = 0.54，p < 0.001）。关于 ED 的中间维度，消极情绪反应与 ADHD 症状严重程度（r = 0.63，p < 0.001）和情绪不稳定（r = 0.52，p < 0.001）密切相关。我们的研究结果支持 ED 症状是 ADHD 精神病理学的核心特征。就 ED 的维度而言，情绪不稳定和消极情绪反应在成人 ADHD 的精神病理学中发挥着更明确的作用。 由于纳入研究中的统计报告不足，我们无法进行元回归来控制调节变量的作用。