Hsu Chia-Fen, Chen Vincent Chin-Hung, Ni Hsing-Chang, Chueh Ning, Eastwood John D
Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 28;16:1526089. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1526089. eCollection 2025.
A high tendency to boredom and delay aversion are commonly observed traits among children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD. However, the interplay between boredom, delay aversion, and ADHD symptoms remains unclear. It is unknown, for example, whether a predisposition to boredom predicts difficulties in sustaining attention because of susceptibility to delay aversion. This study investigated the potential mediating role of delay aversion in the relationship between boredom and inattentive behaviors in children with and without ADHD.
Parent- and self-ratings of boredom proneness, delay aversion, and inattention symptom severity of 93 children with ADHD and 90 typically developing controls (aged 9-16 years) were included in analysis.
Both parent- and self-ratings showed that children with ADHD had significantly elevated levels of trait boredom, delay aversion, and inattention compared to controls. Trait boredom, delay aversion, and inattention were inter-correlated. The parent-ratings showed that children with a higher level of trait boredom tended to be more inattentive, and this effect was partially explained by the mediating role of delay aversion.
Our findings suggest that the relation between boredom and inattention may be at least partially explained by the mediating role of delay aversion in children within and without ADHD.
在被诊断为注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）的儿童和青少年中，普遍观察到高度的无聊倾向和延迟厌恶特质。然而，无聊、延迟厌恶与ADHD症状之间的相互作用仍不明确。例如，尚不清楚无聊倾向是否由于对延迟厌恶的易感性而预示着维持注意力存在困难。本研究调查了延迟厌恶在患有和未患有ADHD的儿童的无聊与注意力不集中行为之间关系中的潜在中介作用。
分析纳入了93名患有ADHD的儿童和90名发育正常的对照儿童（年龄在9至16岁之间）的父母及自我评定的无聊倾向、延迟厌恶和注意力不集中症状严重程度。
父母评定和自我评定均显示，与对照组相比，患有ADHD的儿童在特质无聊、延迟厌恶和注意力不集中方面的水平显著升高。特质无聊、延迟厌恶和注意力不集中之间相互关联。父母评定表明，特质无聊水平较高的儿童往往更易注意力不集中，且这种效应部分由延迟厌恶的中介作用所解释。
我们的研究结果表明，在患有和未患有ADHD的儿童中，无聊与注意力不集中之间的关系可能至少部分由延迟厌恶的中介作用所解释。
