Internal Consistency and Discriminant Validity of a Delay-Discounting Task With an Adult Self-Reported ADHD Sample

• Published in: Journal of attention disorders Vol. 15; no. 5; pp. 412 - 422
• Main Authors: Hurst, Ruth M., Kepley, Hayden O., McCalla, Marjorie K., Livermore, Melissa K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2011
• Subjects: Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - physiopathology; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - psychology; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; Clinical Diagnosis; Comparative Analysis; Conceptual Tempo; Decision Making; Elementary School Students; Female; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Male; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Reward; Task Analysis; Task Performance and Analysis; Time Factors; Validity; Young Adult; Young Adults; impulsivity; ADHD; inhibition; delay-discounting task; adults
• ISSN: 1087-0547; 1557-1246
• DOI: 10.1177/1087054710365993

Objective: The purpose of this research was to evaluate the reliability and discriminant validity of a behavioral task of impulsivity, the delay-discounting task. Method: Young adults were asked to report ADHD diagnostic status and to complete the delay-discounting task. The internal consistency of the task was determined, task performances of individuals with and without self-reported ADHD were compared, and the ability of this task to discriminate between participants with and without self-reported ADHD was assessed. Results: The delay-discounting task showed very good to excellent internal consistency. Furthermore, participants with self-reported ADHD responded to the task in a more impulsive manner than did non-ADHD participants. Finally, moderate discriminant validity for detecting self-reported ADHD using this task was found. Conclusion: Findings showed that the delay-discounting task is a promising task for both clinical research and practice as it has strong reliability overall and has moderate discriminant ability for self-reported ADHD in young adults. (J. of Att. Dis. 2011; 15(5) 412-422)