The interplay of delay aversion, timing skills, and impulsivity in children experiencing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms

Impulsive behaviours occurring as a central deficit in connection with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are associated with social and academic impairment in children. Whereas impulsivity was shown to be related to both delay aversion and deficient timing skills, the mutual relation between the latter two has hardly been investigated. The present study therefore examined the interplay of delay aversion, timing skills, and impulsivity in a sample of eighty-eight children aged between seven and fourteen, twenty-one of them diagnosed with ADHD. Children participated in a delay aversion and a tapping task, while parents reported about their impulsiveness. The results showed that both delay aversion and deficient timing skills were related to impulsivity. Contrasting prior assumptions, delay aversion and timing skills were also shown to be related, even when controlling for impulsivity. Implications for interventions aiming to reduce children’s impulsivity as well as methodological considerations regarding whether to view ADHD as a category or a continuum are discussed.