The role of self‐compassion in the mental health of adults with ADHD

Abstract

Objective Evidence suggests that the poorer mental health associated with attention deficit hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is partially explained by adverse psychosocial correlates of the condition. As recent studies show that self‐compassion is negatively associated with ADHD, this study investigates if levels of self‐compassion may explain the mental health outcomes in people with ADHD compared to people without ADHD. Method A total of 543 adults with ADHD (62.72% female, 18–67 years), and 313 adults without ADHD (66.45% female, 18–82 years) completed questionnaires online to measure levels of self‐compassion and mental health. A Structural Equation Model assessed the mediating effect of self‐compassion on the relationships between ADHD and well‐being (psychological, emotional, and social), and ADHD and ill‐being (depression, anxiety, and stress). Results Findings suggest that low self‐compassion contributes to poorer mental health in adults with ADHD compared to adults without ADHD. Conclusions Thus, self‐compassion may be a potential target to improve mental health in this population. Public Health Significance This study shows that self‐compassion is an important factor in the mental health of adults with ADHD and provides preliminary evidence for the use of self‐compassion interventions to improve mental health outcomes in adults with ADHD.

The indirect effect of self-compassion in the association between autistic traits and anxiety/depression: A cross-sectional study in autistic and non-autistic adults

“…Considering shame and self-blame are also linked with high levels of avoidance and guilt (Gilbert & Woodyatt, 2017), low self-compassion may contribute significantly to mental health difficulties in autistic people. Similar relationships have recently been observed in the context of ADHD (Beaton et al, 2022). More specifically, lower levels of self-compassion were found to contribute to poorer mental health in adults with ADHD compared to adults without ADHD.…”

Racial discrimination moderates associations between sociopolitical discussions and internalizing problems among racially minoritized college students.

“…Sociopolitical discussions were expected to similarly relate to depression, anxiety, and perceived stress as highly interrelated internalizing problems. A recent meta-analysis of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale found that a one-factor model of the scale—treating them as one latent construct—had nearly identical fit to the three-factor model (Yeung et al, 2020), and prior studies have calculated a composite from these measures (e.g., Beaton et al, 2022). Therefore, an exploratory factor analysis was used to determine whether values for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and perceived stress could be measured using a single factor for each sample, and values for each construct were z -scored using the sample mean and averaged into a single composite of internalizing problems.…”