Sociometric status of clinic-referred children with attention deficit disorders with and without hyperactivity

Peer sociometric nominations of clinic-referred children given the diagnosis of Attention) Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity (ADD/H) or Attention Deficit Disorder without Hyperactivity (ADD/WO) were compared to one another and to those of normal control children. Only children with ADD diagnoses in the absence of other major diagnoses were included. Both children with ADD/H (n = 16) and ADD/WO (n = 11) received significantly fewer "liked most" nominations, more "liked least" nominations, and lower social preference scores than normal control (n = 45) children. These results confirm previous findings of social deficits in children with ADD/H, even when codiagnoses are excluded. In addition, they support the validity of the diagnostic category of ADD/WO by demonstrating that the ADD/WO behavior pattern is apparently "psychopathological" in being associated with peer unpopularity after codiagnoses are excluded. When larger groups including all codiagnoses (primarily Conduct Disorder) of children with ADD/H (n = 36) and ADD/WO (n = 20) were compared, identical patterns of peer unpopularity were found, except that children with ADD/H also were significantly more likely to be nominated as a child who "fights most."