Perceived social support in children and adolescents with ADHD.
Use the German CASSS to spot low social support in youth with ADHD—then treat it before it hardens into loneliness.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team gave the German version of the CASSS to kids and teens with ADHD. They also gave it to same-age peers without ADHD.
The goal was to see if youth with ADHD feel less social support and if the German form works well.
What they found
Kids and teens with ADHD said they get less social support than their typical peers.
The German CASSS showed strong reliability, so it is ready for clinic use.
How this fits with other research
Alvarez-Fernandez et al. (2017) saw the same social-support gap, but in adults. Their ADHD group also felt less support than neurotypicals, so the problem lasts past high school.
Rogers et al. (2017) went further. In a big adult survey, higher ADHD symptoms doubled the odds of loneliness. Together these papers show the social gap starts young and stays.
Koukouriki et al. (2020) flipped the lens. They found low social support hurt the brothers and sisters of kids with ASD. The message across studies: when support is low, everyone in the family feels it.
Why it matters
You now have a quick, valid tool to screen social support in German-speaking youth with ADHD. If the score is low, add social-skills goals or peer-network plans right away. Catch the gap early and you may stop later loneliness and depression.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Social support is crucial to healthy development, serving as an important protective factor. AIMS: This study is the first to evaluate the psychometric properties of the German version of the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS). We further investigated differences between children and adolescents with and without ADHD. METHODS: Our total sample of N = 525 consisted of clinical participants diagnosed with ADHD (28.8 %) and healthy controls (71.2 %). We investigated item properties, factorial validity and reliability of the CASSS and performed a group comparison between patients with ADHD and healthy controls. RESULTS: Factor analyses confirmed a four-factor structure corresponding to different sources of social support. All scales showed very good internal consistency. Results revealed that patients with ADHD perceived less overall support compared to the healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: The German version of the CASSS is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of perceived social support in children and adolescents. As children with ADHD perceived less social support in comparison to healthy controls, the identification and promotion of social skills should be an integral part of the treatment of ADHD.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2021.103863