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The association between different sources of distraction and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Jahla B Osborne1, Han Zhang1, Madison Carlson1
1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Introduction:
Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are generally distractible. Yet, the precise relationship between ADHD and distractibility remains under-specified in two respects. First, different sources of distraction, such as background noise or mind wandering, may not be equally associated with ADHD. Second, ADHD itself comprises a variety of symptoms that show considerable heterogeneity and it is unclear which ADHD symptoms are associated with which type of distraction.
Methods:
The current study addresses these questions using one clinically evaluated sample (N = 69) and two large non-clinically evaluated samples (N = 569, N = 651). In all samples, participants completed questionnaires about their susceptibility to external distraction, unwanted intrusive thoughts, spontaneous mind-wandering and ADHD symptomatology.
Results:
Traditional regression and novel network analyses revealed an overwhelming contribution of spontaneous mind-wandering in explaining ADHD symptoms, although external distraction and unwanted intrusive thoughts were also associated with a small number of ADHD symptoms.
Discussion:
Findings support a growing body of literature linking spontaneous mind-wandering and ADHD, and they highlight the heterogeneity in the association between ADHD symptoms and different sources of distraction.
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