The social acceptability of methylphenidate, behavior modification, and methylphenidate plus behavior modification was evaluated. Fifty mothers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 50 control mothers, along with 21 children with ADHD and 20 control children, read a case vignette of an 8-year-old boy with ADHD and descriptions of the three treatment conditions. Subjects then rated the acceptability of each treatment. The mothers of children with ADHD were reassessed 3.5 months later, after experience with interventions for their children. Both ADHD and control families rated behavior modification as the most acceptable, methylphenidate as least acceptable, and the combined condition intermediate between the other two. At follow-up, there was a significant improvement in the acceptability of methylphenidate and the combined condition. The increased acceptability of methylphenidate at follow-up was related to increases in parents' knowledge about ADHD but not to the significant improvements that occurred in the children's hyperactive behavior.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.