Evaluation of the relationship among sluggish cognitive tempo, attachment and temperament in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between attachment and temperament-chracter properties in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosed, 9-12 years old children with and without Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT). Method: A total of 80 voluntarily children diagnosed with ADHD based on DSM-5 were included in the study. Sociodemographic data form and Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children (KID-SADS-PL) were filled in by the clinician through a face-to-face semi-structured clinical interview. Cases with psychiatric comorbidity were not included in the study. In addition the parents of the children in the case group were asked to fill out a list of Turgay Disruptive Behavior Rating Scale for Parents (T-DSM-IV) and Barkley Child Attention Scale (BCAS). According to the BCAS scores, the participants were divided into two groups as ADHD with and without SCT. Children were accepted for in the study were asked to fill out Kerns Security Scale (KSS) and Junior Temperament and Character Inventory. Results: In our study, the group with ADHD with SCT had significantly higher BCAS, Turgay Inattentiveness scores, harm avoidance and novelty seeking temperament characteristics than ADHD without SCT group. Kerns Security Scale scores and start speaking time were significantly lower in ADHD with SCT group than the group ADHD without SCT. According the regression analysis, we found that inattentiveness and harm avoidance temperament characteristics had a significant effect on determining the YBT group. According the correlation analysises for all ADHD cases we found that; SCT symptoms positively correlated with age and harm avoidance temperament, and negatively correlated with secure attachment characteristics and Turgay hyperactivity scores negatively correlated with self-directedness temperament. In addition, for all ADHD cases we found that secure attachment chracteristics negatively correlated with novelty seeking and harm avoidance temperament traits and positively correlated with reward dependence, persistence, self-directedness and cooperativeness temperament traits. According to correlation analyses for ADHD with SCT cases we found that SCT symptoms negatively correlated with reward dependence temperament. We also found that secure attachment chracteristics positively correlated with reward dependence, self-directedness and cooperativeness temperament traits and negatively correlated with novelty seeking temperament traits. In the regression analyzes, it was determined that age, Turgay's inattention scores and harm avoidance temperament had an independent effect on SCT symptoms. Also we found that harm avoidance and self-directedness temperament traits had an independent effect on attachment traits. Discussion and Conclusion: We believe that our study will contribute to the literatüre because it is the first study that evaluates the relationship between attachment and temperament- chracter properties in ADHD diagnosed with SCT. In the results of our study, it was found that ADHD with SCT group showed more insecure attachment characteristics and SCT symtoms in this group was negatively associated with the temperament feature of reward dependence. In addition, it was determined that harm avoidance temperament and inattention symptoms had a direct effect on both the determination of the ADHD group accompanied by SCT and the severity of SCT symptoms. We predict that more studies with large samples examining the relationship between SCT, attachment and temperament will contribute to the literature.