title: Choice-impulsivity in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A meta-analytic review.
abstract: Impulsive behavior is a core DSM-5 diagnostic feature of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that is associated with several pejorative outcomes. Impulsivity is multidimensional, consisting of two sub-constructs: rapid-response impulsivity and reward-delay impulsivity (i.e., choice-impulsivity). While previous research has extensively examined the presence and implications of rapid-response impulsivity in children with ADHD, reviews of choice-impulsive behavior have been both sparse and relatively circumscribed. This review used meta-analytic methods to comprehensively examine between-group differences in choice-impulsivity among children and adolescents with and without ADHD. Twenty-eight tasks (from 26 studies), consisting of 4320 total children (ADHD=2360, TD=1,960), provided sufficient information to compute an overall between-group effect size for choice-impulsivity performance. Results revealed a medium-magnitude between-group effect size (g=.47), suggesting that children and adolescents with ADHD exhibited moderately increased impulsive decision-making compared to TD children and adolescents. Further, relative to the TD group, children and adolescents with ADHD exhibited similar patterns of impulsive decision-making across delay discounting and delay of gratification tasks. However, the use of single-informant diagnostic procedures relative to multiple informants yielded larger between-group effects, and a similar pattern was observed across samples that excluded females relative to samples that included females.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, United States.
authors.forename: Connor H G
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Patros
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, United States. Electronic address: matt.alderson@okstate.edu.
authors.forename: R Matt
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Alderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, United States.
authors.forename: Lisa J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Kasper
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, United States.
authors.forename: Stephanie J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tarle
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, United States.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Lea
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, United States.
authors.forename: Kristen L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hudec
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male
keywords: Attention; Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; Delay discounting; Delay-of-gratification; Impulsivity; Meta-analysis