Validation of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adult assessment scale (EDAH) in a teenage population

AIM: To validate the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder assessment scale (EDAH) for a teenage population. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Out of an initial sample of 3400 participants, a final sample of 2382 boys and girls was selected. This reduction in the number of participants was mainly due to parents' failing to sign the informed consent document (948 cases) and to incomplete questionnaires (70 cases). Finally, we extracted a sub-sample of those who presented scores above the 75 centile on the total EDAH factor of the questionnaire. This sub-sample consisted of 637 pupils, 258 of whom were girls (40.5%) and the remaining 379 were boys (59.5%), with ages between 11 and 17 years old. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The original test has proved to be useful in screening for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in childhood. The main result of the factorial analysis with Varimax rotation performed on a sample of teenagers was the appearance of a new factor ('social interaction disorders'); the three factors of the original test were maintained, although with slight differences in their composition. High internal consistency was also observed by means of Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.85), which confirmed the reliability of the scale. The sociodemographic variables sex and number of failed subjects account for a significant part of the variance of the total EDAH score (28%); in 'attention deficit', gender, age and number of failed subjects are the variables that exert the greatest influence; in 'social interaction disorders', age and number of failed subjects are involved; in 'hyperactivity', age and gender are the variables with the most weight; and in 'behavioural disorders', none of these variables have any repercussion on the scores that are obtained.