Ann Mil Health Sci Res. 2017 December; 15(4):e68579.
Published online 2017 December 31.
doi: 10.5812/amh.68579.
Brief Report
Persian Manuscript of Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Rating Scale Expected Internal Consistency and Factor Structure in
Iranian Medical Students
Hossein Shekari,
1
Arezo Nahavandi,
2,3,*
and Mohammad Ahmadi
4
1
Allame Tabatabaie University, Tehran, IR Iran
2
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran
3
Neuroscience Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran
4
Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran
*
Corresponding author: Arezo Nahavandi, Neuroscience Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Hemmat Expressway, Tehran, IR Iran. E-mail:
arezonahavandi_1999@yahoo.com
Received 2017 October 10; Revised 2017 November 15; Accepted 2017 December 17.
Abstract
Background: Adult attention-deficit/hyper activity disorder (ADHD) interacts with educational and occupational achievements. To
introduce a valid screening tool for adult ADHD in Iranian students, the current study aimed at evaluating internal consistency and
factor structure of adult ADHD self-report scale (ASRS) Persian version 1.1.
Methods: ASRS Persian version 1.1 was filled by 240 Iranian medical students aged 18 - 24 years, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and
factor analysis were performed with SPSS version 21.
Results: Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.76.8 for ASRS. Factor analysis confirmed two factors of attention deficit and hyperactivity
for ASRS Persian version.
Conclusions: ASRS Persian version 1.1 had adequate internal consistency and saved the two structure factors of the original ques-
tionnaire, the hyperactivity and the attention deficit.
Keywords: Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Factor Analysis, Medical Student
1. Background
Based on various studies, 10% to 66% of childhood
attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could
be continued to adulthood, named adult ADHD (1).
Adults’ symptoms of hyperactivity or attention deficit,
contributes to their life events (2). The occupation is
the main affected field of patients with adult ADHD, in
form of lower function, incomplete performance, poor
relationships with bosses or coworkers, and finally, poor
advancement in occupational skills (3, 4). Reduced occu-
pational function leads to higher rate of unemployment,
changing occupations, low socioeconomic status, and
becoming highly apt to addiction, potentially (5).
Adult ADHD is not well understood and diagnosed (6).
Developmental changes are not considered in diagnostic
criteria of ADHD, since they are derived from validation
studies in children; therefore the criteria for adulthood
are restricted (7-9). Partial improvement of hyperactiv-
ity in adulthood with persistent attention deficit, overlaps
with other psychiatric disorders such as depression and co-
morbid diagnoses are possible reasons for omission of the
adult ADHD diagnosis. At the same time, inadequate and
time consuming screening tools are overwhelming (10).
Further studying of such diagnosis requires an appropri-
ate screening tool for the epidemiological studies.
The only available questionnaire for adult ADHD in
Iran is Conner questionnaire, which contains 26 items
and requires 10 minutes for completion. Adult ADHD self-
report scale (ASRS) with 6 questions, developed by Kessler,
is introduced from the world health organization (WHO)
composite international diagnostic interview (CIDI). ASRS
is validated in various languages (11) and used in correla-
tional studies (12-15). The current study aimed at evaluat-
ing the internal consistency (IC) and factor structure of the
ASRS Persian version 1.1 to be used in the screening studies
on university students and young adults aged 18 - 24 years.
Copyright © 2018, Annals of Military and Health Sciences Research. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in
noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited