Exploring perceptions of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The articles presented in this thesis examined issues of identification and perception of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a sample of 38 boys with ADHD and 43 comparison boys without ADHD. The boys were recruited from local schools in the Montreal area as well as through the community. In Article 1, the positive illusory bias was explored in the area of attention using two different tasks in order to improve our understanding of the self-perceptions of boys with ADHD. Some evidence for positive illusions was found in that boys with ADHD estimated performance at the same level as the comparison group despite performing significantly worse. Additionally, on the Conners' Continuous Performance Test-II (C-CPT-II), significantly more boys with ADHD overestimated their performance than comparison boys. However, because the majority of the boys underestimated their performance, it is suggested that in unfamiliar situations boys with ADHD do not exhibit positive illusions to the same extent as in familiar situations. In Article 2, the perceptions of ADHD reported by others were examined in relation to an objective measure of attention. Through this, the validity of the C-CPT-II was also examined. Parent and teacher ratings of boys with ADHD were compared to boys' performance on the C-CPT-II. Parents completed the Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised (CPRS-R) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and teachers completed the Conners' Teacher Rating Scale-Revised (CTRS-R). While both parent and teacher ratings on the CPRS-R and the CTRS-R respectively showed significant correlations with performance, teachers' ratings had the highest correlations with the errors of the C-CPT-II. Only the externalizing total T score rating on the CBCL was correlated with performance on the C-CPT-II. Additionally, boys with ADHD performed significantly more poorly than comparison boys on the C-CPT-II. However, there was no significant difference between the performance of boys with ADHD and boys with learning disabilities or between boys with learning disabilities and comparison boys. Using discriminate function analysis, the C-CPT-II was able to correctly classify 72% of the participants into either an ADHD or comparison group. The final discussion centres on this research programme's contribution to the field.

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