Adult ADHD in a Student Population: Preliminary Findings

Abstract

The study provides preliminary findings about the likely prevalence rates of ADHD in a South African student population. Data collected using self-report measures to identify symptoms of this disorder, are reported. Participants were 402 undergraduate psychology students. They completed the Internal Restlessness Scale (Weynandt, Iwaszuk, Fulton, Ollerton, Beatty, Fouts, Schepman, & Greenlaw, 2003), Current Symptoms Scale (Barkley & Murphy, 1998), the Wender-Utah Rating Scale (Ward, Wender, & Reimherr, 1993) and the Adult ADHD Self-report Scale (Adler, Kessler, & Spencer, 2003). The results from the Internal Restlessness Scale suggest about 19% of the students could have ADHD whereas those from the Adult ADHD Self-report Scale suggest a lower prevalence of around 13%. The varying prevalence rates suggest questionable construct validity of these instruments in the South African context.