Neuropsychological and behavioral assessment of ADHD in seven- to twelve-year-old children: a discriminant analysis.

We hypothesized that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) would underperform on neuropsychological tests that are sensitive to executive function impairments. We further proposed that a linear discriminant analysis using behavioral and neuropsychological variables as dependent variables would pinpoint the capability of behavioral questionnaires and neuropsychological tests to predict the correct classification of ADHD and control children. We designed a transversal study with 62 seven- to twelve-year-old children with ADHD and 62 Full Scale IQ-matched controls using two behavioral scales and 13 neuropsychological tests. Using analysis of variance and covariance with age and school achievement and multifactor analysis of variance, we found that behavioral variables established robust, statistically significant differences between groups (p < .001). Children with ADHD scored worse than controls on 31 out of 61 neuropsychological variables. Children with ADHD, however, obtained better scores that were statistically significant on WISC-R Comprehension and Picture completion. A linear discriminant analysis with nine behavioral variables correctly classified 100% of the participants in both groups. Another linear discriminant analysis using 10 neuropsychological variables correctly classified 85.48% of the participants in both groups. We propose a core battery of selected tests for assessing children with ADHD. The significance of cross-cultural analyses of different developmental disturbances is emphasized.