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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the implications of autistic traits (ATs) in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) without a diagnosis of autism.
METHODS: Participants were youth with (n = 242) and without (n = 227) ADHD and controls without ADHD in whom a diagnosis of autism was exclusionary. Assessment included measures of psychiatric, psychosocial, educational, and cognitive functioning. ATs were operationalized by using the withdrawn + social + thought problems T scores from the Child Behavior Checklist.
RESULTS: A positive AT profile was significantly overrepresented among ADHD children versus controls (18% vs 0.87%; P < .001). ADHD children with the AT profile were significantly more impaired than control subjects in psychopathology, interpersonal, school, family, and cognitive domains.
CONCLUSIONS: A substantial minority of ADHD children manifests ATs, and those exhibiting ATs have greater severity of illness and dysfunction.
- ADD
- ADHD
- attention deficit disorder
- attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
- AT
- autistic traits
- autism traits
- comorbidity
- social disability
- ADD —
- attention deficit disorder
- ADHD —
- attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
- ASD —
- autism spectrum disorder
- ATs —
- autistic traits
- CBCL —
- Child Behavior Checklist
- DSM-III-R —
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition
- MGH —
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- OR —
- odds ratio
- SAICA —
- Social Adjustment Inventory for Children and Adolescents
- SES —
- socioeconomic status
- WISC-R —
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Revised
- Accepted June 26, 2013.
- Copyright © 2013 by the American Academy of Pediatrics
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