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Seeking the attention of others is something we all do; it is only in the extreme that it becomes the problem of “attention seeking.”
As social beings, children desire the attention of their parents. If this is not forthcoming, they may discover that misbehavior brings attention, albeit in a negative form. This “negative attention” (using the phrase loosely) may be preferable to being ignored but is not ultimately satisfying. The situation can escalate. Focusing on children, Mellor (2008) defines attention seeking as “those behaviours which, through their very irritating nature, bring a child to the attention of a number of adults in a persistent manner over a lengthy period of time, causing great concern. We would exclude, for instance, the sudden reaction of a child to an upset at home lasting for a few days or weeks” (p. 12).
Recently, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (APA 2013) included a...
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References
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Mellor, N. (2016). Attention Seeking. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1045-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1045-1
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