The Impulsivity Of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder:a Follow-up Study

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common behavioral problem in children with the symptoms of attention-deficit and hyperactivity-impulsivity. The symptoms of ADHD has been shown to be significant in the early childhood, and it is particularly evident in the primary stage. And ADHD can be clinical diagnosed at school age. If ADHD children were not cured before adulthood, they would develop into adult ADHD. A number of studies had indicated that, with the increase of age, the symptoms of ADHD patients were relieved, especially impulsive symptoms. And the studies of the impulse in neuropsychology showed that the different experimental paradigm might reflect different structure of impulse, that is impulse is not a single structure. So whether all dimensions of impulse of ADHD are abnormal? With the increase of age, how the different dimensions of impulse will change?The subjects of this study were selected from two universities in Wuhan. The diagnosis of ADHD based on DSM-V and CAARS. Forty-one students were enrolled in this study, with 21 students in the ADHD group and 20 students in the normal group. The average age of the subjects was 19.244 ± 0.860, and the two groups were matched in age and sex. The steps and results of the study are as follows:(1) Research one, we use the Stop Signal Task to examine the difference between ADHD group and normal group in response inhibition, use the Delay Discounting Task to examine impulsive choice, use the Balloon Analogue Risk Task to examine decision-making. The results showed that there were significant difference between the ADHD group and the normal group in impulsive choice and response inhibition, but there was no significant difference in decision-making. It showed that the ADHD with impulsive symptoms may had different defect in the three structures of the impulse, and there may be different impulse deficit type ADHD.(2) Research two, after one and a half years, the same experiment as research one were used again to measure the same subjects as research one. The results showed that there was no significant main effect of age and group in all the three dimensions of the impulse, but the significant interaction effect was tested in the Stop Signal Task and the Delay Discounting Task. It showed that with the increase of age, the impulsive symptoms of ADHD would be improved in a certain degree, but the change trend of the different structure of the impulse was not consistent.