Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). How do ADHD symptoms relate to personality among prisoners?

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder, which is associated with a number of psychiatric conditions, mainly personality disorder, substance misuse, anxiety and depression. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between childhood and adult ADHD symptoms and personality. The participants were 46 prisoners in Iceland. The participants were screened for childhood and current symptoms by the Wender–Utah rating scale and the DSM-IV Checklist for ADHD, respectively. They also completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices. Over half of the prisoners (52.2%) were found on screening to have met criteria for ADHD in childhood and of those 62.5% were either fully symptomatic or in partial remission of their symptoms. ADHD childhood and current symptoms were positively correlated with EPQ psychoticism (P) and neuroticism (N) with large effect sizes. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis (Blockwise entry method), controlling for the effects of non-verbal intelligence, revealed that adult ADHD symptoms were best explained by EPQ N and to a much lesser extent by P. The key link with offending may be that N exacerbates existing propensities for poor behavioural inhibition.