Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale

ADHD is a neurological disorder that can present itself in adolescence and adulthood. Some individuals can outgrow ADHD but around 30% will continue to have ADHD throughout their adulthood.Adults with ADHD may experience difficulties in relation to cognitive, academic, occupational, social and economic situations . ADHD is a neurological disorder that can present itself in adolescence and adulthood. Some individuals can outgrow ADHD but around 30% will continue to have ADHD throughout their adulthood.Adults with ADHD may experience difficulties in relation to cognitive, academic, occupational, social and economic situations . The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) Symptom Checklist is a self-reported questionnaire used to assist in the diagnosis of adult ADHD. The PhenX Toolkit uses ASRS as its adult protocol for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms. ADHD is a neurological disorder that can present itself in adolescence and adulthood. Some individuals can outgrow ADHD but around 30% will continue to have ADHD throughout their adulthood.Adults with ADHD may experience difficulties in relation to cognitive, academic, occupational, social and economic situations . ADHD has no single cause but can be genetically inherited in many cases, and roughly 76% of those diagnosed inherited it from their parent(s). For the remaining percentage of individuals, 14-15%, ADHD may have been caused due to their environment, such as trauma in the womb or during birth . Changes in the genes that influence the neurochemicals serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine levels can cause them to be overactive or under active, possibly playing a role in the development of an individual with ADHD. It has also been shown that activity in the frontal lobe is decreased in an individual with ADHD compared to an individual without ADHD. The Adult ADHD Self-Reporting Scale was created to estimate the pervasiveness of an adult with ADHD in an easy self survey. The ASRS was developed in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Workgroup on Adult ADHD which included researchers from New York University Medical School and Harvard Medical School. The ASRS has eighteen questions, which are consistent with the DSM-IV criteria and address ADHD symptoms in adults. The six question ASRS Screener was later developed as a subset of the WHO's eighteen question ASRS. At least one study has found that the six question ASRS Screener outperformed the eighteen question ASRS in diagnosing ADHD in the general population. ASRS has been adapted to other languages including Spanish and Chinese. Conducted research proved that the scale is a valid and useful tool for the screening of adult ADHD. The ASRS was externally validated on approximately 60 adult patients, and showed high internal consistency and high concurrent validity with the physician-administered ADHD rating system. Self rating scales are generally useful tools because they create a way to collect a large, accurate amount of data in an organized, quick, and cost effective way. The diagnostic criteria originally designed for determining whether an individual was experiencing ADHD symptoms was designed for children. This criteria has been criticized for being too limiting for adults and the symptoms that can sometimes present themselves in adults with ADHD such as procrastination, poor motivation and time management difficulties. Each question can be answered on a five item Likert scale, based on a scale of frequency ranging from 'Never' to 'Very Often'. Answers are scored as either positive or negative and the threshold is different for individual questions. Answers of 'Never' and 'Rarely' are always scored negative, answers of 'Often and Very Often' are always scored positive, and answers of 'Sometimes' are scored positively in only seven of the eighteen questions. Four or more positive answers in Part A is indicative of ADHD symptoms. The Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Reporting Rating Scale (ASRS) is composed of 18 questions, and uses a scale that ranges from 0-4 based on the individuals mark in either the “never, rarely, sometimes, often, very often” column for a possible total score of 72. Each column is used to describe the severity of the individuals symptoms based on the question asked. The participant is asked to make a mark within one column for each question that best describes their answer. The questions are split up into 2 separate parts; Part A consists of questions 1-6 and Part B consists of questions 7-18. If four or more answers are scored “positive” then a high consistency of ADHD is indicated and further follow up with a licensed clinician is necessary. Positive scores in Part B can be further identifying cues of the individuals symptoms.