A comparative study of performance in the Conners' Continuous Performance Test between Brazilian and North American children.
OBJECTIVE
The present study investigated the performance of Brazilian children in the Continuous Performance Test, CPT-II, and compared results to those of the norms obtained in the United States.


METHODS
The U.S. norms were compared to those of a Brazilian sample composed of 6- to 11-year-olds separated into 4 age-groups (half boys) that represented the socioeconomic class distribution of São Paulo City. The children were prescreened for attention deficit disorders (ADHD).


RESULTS
Age and gender effects in the Brazilian sample were similar to those previously described. However, the Brazilian sample showed better performance in almost all measures in all age-groups compared to that of the United States.


CONCLUSIONS
It is discussed that differences between samples probably reflect lack of ADHD screening of the U.S. children. More studies are necessary to determine if the CPT-II is a cross-cultural test with participants from different samples matched for age, gender, and socioeconomic status screened for ADHD.
Miranda
Mônica Carolina
MC
Department of Psychobiology, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. mcarol@psicobio.epm.br
Sinnes
Elaine Girão
EG
Pompéia
Sabine
S
Francisco Amodeo Bueno
Orlando
O
D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology