Empati hos barn och unga med ADHD och AST - En kvantitativ undersökning gällande skolpersonal och föräldrars uppfattningar

Sammanfattning: ASD and ADHD are some of the most common diagnoses among children in Swedish elementary schools. Research has shown that these groups have, among other, difficulties with communication, emotional regulation and social interaction. This study examines some of these difficulties in relation to empathy. The concept of empathy has been broken down into the smaller element’s affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and the intention to help. The aim is to find out if there are differences in empathy between children with ASD and ADHD compared to a control group without ASD or ADHD, and also if parent evaluation differs from the teachers’ evaluation. A survey was carried out to collect data from adults, evaluating children at age 9-16 years. A total amount of 310 responses were analyzed. The questionnaire was based on EmQue-CA, a specifically designed tool to measure empathy in children and young adults. The result revealed that children with ASD were significantly lower in cognitive empathy and the intention to help. Children with ADHD were also seen lower in cognitive empathy but did not differ in the other categories. The teachers generally evaluated the children lower than the parents’, in all categories, and they did not distinguish between the different types of empathy for ADHD. For ASD they had a similar view as the parents for affective and cognitive empathy. This is the first study that examines empathy for ASD and ADHD and at the same time makes a comparison between parents’ and teaches’ evaluation. Future research should investigate what might lie behind.