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Attentional Difficulties in Hyperactive and Conduct‐disordered Children: A Processing Deficit
Author(s) -
Leung Patrick W. L.,
Connolly Kevin J.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01231.x
Subject(s) - psychology , attention deficit , attention deficit disorder , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , clinical psychology , psychiatry
A random population sample of 1479 Chinese boys from Hong Kong was screened and diagnosed in a two‐stage epidemiological study. Four groups, age 7–8, were distinguished: (1) a pure hyperactive group (HA), (2) a mixed hyperactive/conduct–disordered group (HA + CD), (3) a pure conduct‐disordered group (CD), and (4) a normal control group (N). On a visual search task, only the HA children showed a specific processing deficit in performance. This confirms the diagnostic value of such a deficit for hyperactivity, differentiating it from conduct disorder. The failure to find a similar deficit in the HA + CD group raises questions concerning the clinical identity of these children. Each group showed a performance decrement over time in the visual search task but the decrement did not differ between the four groups. This observation is not congruent with the reports of a short attention span in hyperactive children; explanations of this apparent contradiction are considered.