A total of 20 boys with ADHD (mean age 8 years and 10 months) and a control group of 19 boys (mean age 9 years and 1 month) participated in the study. The research was conducted in a playroom with a one-way observation mirror in one wall. Two video cameras were used to record activities in the room. The conversation segment of the interaction between the boy and the unfamiliar adult (a student) began when the adult and the boy were both sitting on the floor. The adult was instructed to start the conversation with a question about the boy's school, then to continue with spontaneous dialog after the standard question. In the play segment, the adult and boy built a tower out of blocks. While building the tower, the boy could converse freely with the adult and move around the room. Both conversation and play segments lasted 4 to 5 minutes. The study found that during the conversation segment, the boys with ADHD and the adults were less socially involved in each other compared with the interactions with the control group of boys. During the play segment, boys with ADHD talked to themselves more and seemed to direct their attention to the adult more than did control boys. The adults praised the boys with ADHD more often and asked them more questions about their play activities than with the control boys. Overall, the boys with ADHD showed poor social attention during conversation and elicited more controlling behavior in the adults. The study suggests that poor self-regulatory mechanisms may mediate social problems for boys with ADHD. 2 tables and 26 references