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A new rating scale for adult ADHD based on the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90-R)

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Abstract

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults is increasingly recognized as a clinically important syndrome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric performance of a new scale for adult ADHD based on the widely used Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-R). Scale performance was assessed in a clinical study including 100 ADHD patients and 65 opiate-dependent patient controls, and in the Zurich study, an epidemiological age cohort followed over 30 years of adult life. Assessments included a ROC analysis of sensitivity and specificity, internal consistency, test–retest reliability, external validity and measurement invariance over nine testing occasions. The new scale showed a sensitivity and specificity of 75 and 54%, respectively, internal consistency over 0.8 (McDonald’s omega, Cronbach’s alpha), one-year test–retest reliabilities over 0.7, statistically significant and substantial correlations with two other validated self-rating scales of adult ADHD (R = 0.5 and 0.66, respectively), and an acceptable degree of longitudinal stability (i.e., measurement invariance). The proposed scale must be further evaluated, but these preliminary results indicate it could be a useful rating instrument for adult ADHD in situations where SCL-90-R data, but no specific ADHD assessment, are available, such as in retrospective data analysis or in prospective studies with limited methodical resources.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Grant 3200-050881.97/1 of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital, Lenggstr. 31, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Dominique Eich, Jules Angst, Anja Frei & Alex Gamma

  2. Research Unit for Clinical and Social Psychiatry, Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital, Militärstr. 8, 8021, Zurich, Switzerland

    Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross & Wulf Rössler

Authors
  1. Dominique Eich
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  2. Jules Angst
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  3. Anja Frei
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  4. Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross
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  5. Wulf Rössler
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  6. Alex Gamma
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Correspondence to Dominique Eich.

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Eich, D., Angst, J., Frei, A. et al. A new rating scale for adult ADHD based on the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90-R). Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 262, 519–528 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-011-0288-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-011-0288-1

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