Stressinduced attenuation of attention in young adults with high ADHD like symptomatology

Abstract

Background: Models of maintenance of ADHD in adults hypothesise, that general attention and in turn self attention can be diminished by stress. Objective: The aim of the study was to prove, whether this effect is present already in healthy young men, showing high or low symptomatology similar to ADHD. Method: 84 men with a mean age of 23 years were tested. Stress was induced by mental arithmetics from the Trier Social Stress Test. Different aspects of attention were measured with the “Frankfurter Aufmerksamkeitsinventar”, a validated German instrument. ADHD symptomatology was assessed by the self rating scale from the “ Homburger ADHS Skalen für Erwachsene”, which is based on DSM IV-criteria. By median-split of this scale participants were classified in high or low ADHD like persons. Results: A significant group × stress interaction effect (p < .002) was obtained with decreased performance under stress for the group with high ADHD symptomatology. Conclusions: The results point to the usefulness of stress management elements in treatments of adult ADHD.