Attention Mechanisms in Children with Anxiety Disorders and in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Implications for Research and Practice

Inattention is among the most commonly referred problems for school-aged youth. Research suggests distinct mechanisms may contribute to attention problems in youth with anxiety disorders versus youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study compared children (8-17 years) with anxiety disorders (n = 24) and children (8-16 years) with ADHD (n = 23) on neurocognitive tests of both general and emotion-based attention processes. As hypothesized, children with ADHD demonstrated poorer selective and sustained attention, whereas youth with anxiety disorders demonstrated greater attentional bias toward threatening faces on a visual probe task. Findings suggest the neuropsychological differentiation of attention problems in anxious and ADHD children, despite potentially similar phenotypes.