Affective Factors That Contribute to the Quality of Life of Juvenile Inmates with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Focus on Items from the Korean Youth Self Report

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated quality of life in Korean juvenile inmates with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the impact of behavioral and emotional problems on quality of life. METHODS: In total, 200 inmates were evaluated using the Korean version of the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (K-MINI) and the Korean version of the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime (K-SADS-PL-K). We extracted the inmates with ADHD and evaluated their quality of life, behavioral problems, and emotional problems with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) and the Korean Youth Self Report (K-YSR) scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were conducted. RESULTS: Among the 200 total inmates, 68 were diagnosed with ADHD by the K-SADS-PL-K. Most of the correlations between PedsQL scores and K-YSR items were significant. Multiple regression analysis showed that PedsQL could be predicted by affective problems (among the DSM-oriented scales of the K-YSR) and attention problems (among the syndrome scales of the K-YSR). CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that, among juvenile inmates with ADHD, quality of life was negatively correlated with most behavioral and emotional problems. Meanwhile, the significant influence of affective and attention problems on inmates’ quality of life suggests the necessity of comprehensive treatments for this group.