MEASURING ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER WITH AND WITHOUT HYPERACTIVITY IN THIRD THROUGH SIXTH GRADE CHILDREN WITH TEACHER, PEER, AND SELF RATING SCALES

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among the symptoms associated with Attention Deficit Disorder with (ADH) and without Hyperactivity (ADD) in a large population of grade school-aged children. Comparisons between the three informants (teacher, peer, self) were evaluated by the multitrait-multimethod matrix procedure (Campbell & Fiske, 1959). Comparisons were also made between ratings of younger versus older children. Finally, the meaningfulness of ADD and ADH symptoms was explored by relating subscale scores to recent achievement test results. A sample of 249 children and their 14 teachers were recruited from 4 midwestern public elementary schools. Ratings were obtained on two teacher checklists (SNAP, CTRS) and two checklists developed for this study (Peer, Self). Results did not support the present grouping of ADD and ADH symptoms. Inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity were all moderately to highly correlated across measures and observers. This was in contrast to DSM III guidelines which suggested higher correlations should occur between inattention and impulsivity. The multitrait-multimethod matrix indicated heterogeneous subscales correlated stronger within single measures than homogeneous constructs correlated across measures. This was interpreted as indicating teachers and children have difficulty making the distinctions required under present diagnostic guidelines. However, symptoms were moderately correlated across informants and some symptoms were predictive of achievement. This suggested an interactional interpretation. While a child\u27s behavior may have varied across situations (thus lowering across informant correlations), behavior may have been uniform enough to affect specific outcomes. Consistent with previous research, younger children evidenced more symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity than older children. Achievement and these symptoms were found to be highly related. SNAP Inattention contributed 30% of reading, 31% of math, and 33% of composite achievement variance. Language arts variance was best predicted by the CTRS Hyperactivity/inattention subscale (29%). The Self scale was not significantly predictive of achievement. These findings suggested problem behaviors such as inattention may interfere with children\u27s academic performance