Examining parental nonresponse to stimulant treatment questions according to ethnicity

The purpose of this study was to examine parental response or nonresponse to the question of whether their child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) received stimulant treatment as a function of ethnicity.

A sample of 2,844 students diagnosed with ADHD, ages 6-12, beginning during the 2000-2001 academic school year from the most recent wave of the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS) was used. Parental response versus nonresponse to the question of stimulant treatment was examined.

Parents who were African American or Hispanic were more likely not to respond to the question as to whether their child with ADHD received stimulant treatment as compared to parents who were white. This nonresponse bias was unrelated to nonresponse in the variable of household income.

This nonresponse bias among parents who were African American or Hispanic may be indicative of parental attitudes toward stimulant treatment. Research should be cautious in drawing conclusions from self-report data regarding stimulant treatment according to ethnicity.