Psychopathology, Temperament, and Character Factors of Adults with Childhood Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Symptoms

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to find out the differences in psychopathology, temperament, and character factors between young adults with and without childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. METHODS: The subjects consisted of 314 university students (male=72, female=242) in Gongju. They were divided into childhood ADHD group (N=54) and normal group (N=260) to the Wender-Utah Rating Scale. Participants were assessed using Korean Adult ADHD Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Kimberly Young's Internet Addiction Test, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Paranoia Scale, Korean-Schizotypal Ambivalence Scale, Lubben Social Network Scale, and Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised. Descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square, spearman correlation, and stepwise multiple regression were applied to analyze the data. RESULTS: Participants with childhood ADHD symptoms had high level of adult ADHD symptoms (p<.001), impulsiveness (p=.001), depression (p<.001), anxiety (p<.001), internet addiction (p<.001), paranoia tendency (p<.001) and low level of self-esteem (p<.001) compared to normal group. Self-directedness (p<.001) was lower, Harm avoidance (p=.001) and Self-transcendence (p=.029) were higher in the childhood ADHD group. In correlation and stepwise multiple regression, childhood ADHD symptoms were significantly associated with cooperativeness (r=-0.515 and beta=-0.547, p<.001 respectively). CONCLUSION: This result showed that young adults with childhood ADHD symptoms had various forms of psychopathology and childhood ADHD symptoms were influenced by character such as cooperativeness. Therefore, more thorough evaluation regarding childhood ADHD symptoms is needed.