Exploring ADHD across development

Research Qusetions

  • Some of these questions have been addressed here
  • What % of children with adhd have parents with adhd? PreInt_FamHx,m_adhd PreInt_FamHx,f_adhd
  • What is the SES/race/gender breakdown of children with adhd?
  • What are the kinds of professions / college education held by parents of kids with adhd?
  • School environment for children with adhd PhenX_School
  • Neighborhood environment for children with adhd PhenX_Neighborhood
  • How do general scores of achievement and intelligence differ across adhd subtypes?
  • What is the gender breakdown of adhd subtypes?
  • Girls with adhd:
    • age of first menstruation
    • age of puberty onset
  • what kind of school organizations are kids with adhd part of? PreInt_EduHx
  • Family history of mental illness PreInt_FamHx or other illness
    • primary diagnosis of mother, father, sibling
  • What % of children are taking medication for adhd?
  • What type of allergies do children with adhd have?
  • Previous head injuries?
  • Mother’s nicotine use during pregnancy?
  • Severity of ADHD diagnosis - differences across subtypes (inattentive, hyperactive etc.)
  • Any information on whether people with adhd are night owls versus early risers?
  • Any difference in rates of suspension, detention in children with ADHD compared to children without a diagnosis?
  • Is there any evidence that children with ADHD spend longer on the internet than children without adhd, and what is the nature of internet usage?

Questions - Child Behavior Checklist - Teacher Report Form

  • What information is captured in this questionnaire?
    • teacher / parent differences in CBCL in girls with ADHD - difference in reporting?
    • what scales you use to diagnose ADHD result in different subtypes

Questions - Predictive modeling

  • ADHD: can subtypes be classified from one another?
    • hypothesis: most questionnaires/measures will not be able to differentiate between adhd subtypes
  • ADHD: can gender be classified from one another?
    • hypothesis: certain questionnaires will be able to identify between gender
  • are there boys/girls who have cognitive profiles similar to those with adhd but haven’t been diagnosed with adhd?
    • how do we address this question? determine a cognitive profile for each participant and do a similarity comparison between those diagnosed with adhd and those without, are there any participants who have a cognitive profile that is very similar to ADHD but were not given a diagnosis?

Summary of cognitive performance

  • Many questionnaires (e.g., measures) have a total or raw score providing an overall summary of how well a participant did on a questionnaire
  • For all of the measures that have a total or raw score, how well on average are children with ADHD (across subtypes and gender) performing on these assessments compared to children without a diagnosis?