Conners 4th Edition

Overdiagnoses of ADHD in children has been a great concern for a number of years now. The prevalence of ADHD in youth is between five and eight percent, but nearly 25% of school-age children are medicated or prescribed medication for ADHD. The Conners 4th Edition is the highly anticipated revision of the Conners 3rd Edition, the world’s leading Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) assessment, updated to help mitigate potential overdiagnoses.

In addition to fairness and inclusivity principles, the Conners 4 contains a wealth of new research and data on ADHD and comorbid conditions that were incorporated into the conceptualisation and design of the test. Increased fairness and inclusivity include gender-inclusive language, culturally sensitive items, and items and scales that show no evidence of measurement bias concerning gender, race/ethnicity, country of residence, or parental education level.

ASSESSMENT SCALES

The Conners 4 contains the following scales:

 Content Scales

 · Inattention/Executive Dysfunction: Reflects issues the youth may have with focussing, sustaining, and shifting attention, as well as self-image.

·  Hyperactivity: Reflects the youth’s level of motor or verbal activity and restlessness.

·  Impulsivity: Reflects difficulties a youth may have with response inhibition.

·  Emotional Dysregulation: Reflects the youth’s experience of, or difficulty with, regulating or managing emotions.

·  Depressed Mood: Reflects features of depression.

·  Anxious Thoughts: Reflects the youth’s experience of and difficulty with, regulating fears and worries. 

DSM Symptom Scales

· ADHD Inattentive Symptoms: Reflects each of the DSM Symptom Scales Diagnostic Criteria A for ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Presentation.

· ADHD Hyperactive/Impulsive Symptoms: Reflects each of the DSM Symptom Scales Diagnostic Criteria A for ADHD Predominantly Hyperactive/Impulsive Presentation.

· Total ADHD Symptoms: Provides a dimensional representation of the ADHD symptoms, irrespective of presentation type.

· Oppositional Defiant Disorder Symptoms: Reflects each of the DSM Symptom Scales Diagnostic Criteria A for Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

· Conduct Disorder Symptoms: Reflects each of the DSM Symptom Scales Diagnostic Criteria A for Conduct Disorder.

Impairment and Functioning Outcome Scales

·  Schoolwork: Reflects typical problems or difficulties that youth with ADHD experience in their schoolwork.

·  Peer Interaction: Reflects typical problems or difficulties that youth with ADHD experience when interacting with peers.

·  Family Life: Reflects typical problems or difficulties that youth with ADHD experience or contribute to in family interactions.

In addition to the full-length Conners 4 , there is also a Conners 4–Short, which is useful when a rater has limited time or when the rater will be asked to complete the Conners 4 repeatedly (e.g., monthly assessment of treatment response).​ This form takes less time to complete than the full-length form but is not as comprehensive because it has fewer scales and fewer items per scale (for both Content and Impairment and ​Functional Outcome scales).​

AREAS OF APPLICATION

The Conners 4 is invaluable when making decisions about clinical diagnoses and educational eligibility during intervention planning and monitoring, in research contexts, and for screening purposes.

REPORTING

The Conners 4 is now only scorable electronically. 

Single Rater Report: Provides detailed information about scores from a single administration, presented numerically, graphically, and within an interpretive summary. A youth’s scores are compared to those in one or more Normative Samples, and optionally, to an ADHD Reference Sample. Also includes a Within-Profile Comparison of the youth’s results to their own average score. Elevations at both the scale and item level are included. Key results are provided in a one-page overview. A response style analysis, critical indicator items (for severe conduct, self-harm and sleep problems), and the Conners 4 ADHD Index are also indicated in the report.

SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCH

Although South African research and norms are not yet available for the Conners 4, JVR Psychometrics is actively looking for opportunities to partner with clients in conducting validation studies.