An Examination of Shared Variance in Self-Report and Objective Measures of Attention in the Incarcerated Adult Population

Abstract

The results support the assumption that the self report measures share a significant part of the variance with tests of attention commonly used in clinical assessment. However, the risk of making both false positive and false negative inferences about ADHD is present, as the specificity and the sensitivity of the rating scale needs to be further explored.

Childhood ADHD Symptoms Are Associated With Lifetime and Current Illicit Substance-Use Disorders and In-Site Health Risk Behaviors in a Representative Sample of Latino Prison Inmates

“…It has been suggested in other reports that different versions of the WURS identify adult ADHD, even though it was developed for adults to focus on childhood retrospective symptoms. For example, Asbjørnsen et al (2010) suggested that their prison sample responded to the WURS questionnaire in terms of how they experience their symptoms currently. Many other researchers have used screening methods for identifying ADHD in prison samples, specifically the WURS (Ginsberg et al, 2010;Gudjonsson et al, 2009;Matsumoto et al, 2005;Retz et al, 2004;Rösler et al, 2004;Rösler et al, 2009).…”

“…As a dimensional measure of ADHD symptoms it has been found to be a valuable instrument. It has shown to correlate and have shared variance with some objective measures of attentional dysfunction, such as omission errors on the Continuous Performance Test (Asbjørnsen, Jones, Munkvold, Obrzut, & Manger, 2010). …”

How Much Do We Know About Our Own Cognitive Control?

“…Older people scored worse than younger ones on both types of instrument; therefore, the whole sample tended to show some correspondence between self-report and performance indices. However, the partial correlations revealed that, if participants were "ageless," the relationships between the self- These results are slightly surprising, given both the general assumptions concerning the validity of human selfknowledge and the results of several previous studies (Absjornsen et al, 2010;Chaytor et al, 2006;Mackin & Horner, 2005). It seems that performance and self-report measures of executive control are not substitutable.…”

“…None of the previous studies had assessed exactly the same factors as the present study, though there have been reports of moderate relationships between self-report and performance measures for other cognitive functions that are quite similar to cognitive control. For instance, Absjornsen, Jones, Munkvold, Obrzut, and Manger (2010) identified relationships between a self-report instrument for attention deficits and several objective measures of attention (e.g., dichotic listening, Stroop) in a sample of 28 prison inmates (see also Mackin & Horner, 2005). Absjornsen and colleagues judged the amount of shared variance to be between 16% and 25%, which implies a not particularly strong but significant relationship.…”

Can a Questionnaire Be Useful for Assessing Reading Skills in Adults? Experiences with the Adult Reading Questionnaire among Incarcerated and Young Adults in Norway

“…Previous surveys of reading skills among inmates using screening tests such as word chains, homophone non-words, and other tests on phonological difficulties among inmates have yielded low scores and low correlations with self-experienced reading skills [17]. This may be a consequence of the increased prevalence of attention difficulties reported among incarcerated adults interact with demands for quick and precise performance in time-limited tasks [31]. The difficulties in literacy skills may also be generalizable to language and communication challenges [32][33][34].…”