Objective: Social phobia (SP) is one the commonest of comorbid
anxiety disorders seen with ADHD. It is also known that Social phobia
and ADHD patients have some differences in parental attitudes and
attachment styles. We aimed to investigate the effects attachment status
and parental attitudes in ADHD-social phobia comorbidity.
Method: 66 children and adolescents with ADHD were included
for the study. the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia
for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version, DSM-5
November 2016-Turkish Adaptation (KSADS-PL-DSM5-T) was
used for evaluating diagnosis. Socioeconomic status (SES) was scored
with Hollingshead Redlich Scale. Sosyodemografic and clinical data
were recorded. Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) and Parental Attitudes
Research Instrument (PARI) were completed by the parents. The
patients filled Kerns Security Scale (KSS). We compared the ADHD
patients with and without SAD comorbidity in terms of scales used and
sociodemographic-clinical variables.
Results: There were no differences between ADHD + SP group and
ADHD without SP group in terms of age, gender, SES, family structure
and family history of diagnosed psychiatric disease (p>0.05). Rate of
inattentive subtype of ADHD (p=0.05) and comorbid psychiatric
disease frequency (p=0.00) was higher in ADHD+SP group compared
to ADHD without social phobia group. However, the groups did not
differ according to their attachment styles, their parent’s attachment
styles and parental attitudes (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Parental attitudes and attachment styles may not play a
role in the development of SP comorbidity in children and adolescents
with ADHD. Other biological and environmental factors should be
kept in mind when evaluating and treating children with ADHD who
have SP. Biological treatments and individualized interventions such as
CBT may be chosen as a first line treatment rather than psychotherapies
targeting attachment and parenting styles in those children.
Keywords: ADHD, social anxiety, attachment, parental attitudes