Romantic relationships, emotional regulation and quality of life among adults with ADHD in comparison with adults with no ADHD

Abstract

Aim This study aims to investigate whether individuals diagnosed with ADHD show more emotional dysregulation than individuals not diagnosed with ADHD and if they value their romantic relationships and quality of life less, as previous research indicates. The research therefore aims to assess whether the relationship between emotional dysregulation, romantic relationships and quality of life is different between ADHD adults and non-ADHD adultsMethod Participants (N = 42) with confirmed diagnosis of ADHD, mean age 36 (SD =7.1), their spouses, mean age 36 (SD = 7.5) and a comparison group of 31 couples (N = 31), mean age 41.6 (SD = 9.5) answered the following questionnaires: Barkley ADHD Current Symptoms Scale (BCS), Difficulty in Emotion Regulations Scale (DERS), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) and Quality of Life Scale (QLS), along with a questionnaire about socio-demographic information.Results The ADHD individuals valued their quality of life and romantic relationships less than the comparison group. The DAS and the DERS explained 58.4% variance in quality of life as measured with the QLS in ADHD group, 35.0% in the spouses' group and 41.7% in the comparison group.Conclusions This study confirms that emotional dysregulation has a major impact on quality of life within the ADHD group and that the emotional dysregulation subscales predict some variation of quality of life within ADHD spouses’ and comparison groups. Furthermore, it reveals that emotional dysregulation is a greater predictor of quality of life than romantic relationship.