@article{ref1,
title="Childhood symptoms of ADHD and impulsivity in abstinent heroin users",
journal="Journal of dual diagnosis",
year="2015",
author="Segalà, Laura and Vasilev, Georgi and Raynov, Ivaylo and Gonzalez, Raul and Vassileva, Jasmin",
volume="11",
number="3-4",
pages="174-178",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: Heroin dependence is associated with deficits in impulsivity, which is also a core feature of ADHD. This study aimed to explore the association between childhood ADHD symptoms and cognitive and motor impulsivity among abstinent individuals with a history of heroin dependence. <br><br>METHODS: Thirty-two abstinent Bulgarian males with a history of heroin dependence participated in the study. Self-rated childhood ADHD symptoms were obtained using the Wender-Utah Rating Scale. Cognitive impulsivity was measured using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), an index of impulsive decision-making and the Delayed Reward Discounting Task (DRDT), a measure of inter-temporal choice. Motor impulsivity was indexed with the Stop Signal Task (SST), a measure of response inhibition. <br><br>RESULTS: Participants, whose average age was 27.66 years (SD = 2.7), had an average ADHD symptom score of 36.6 (SD = 18.6), roughly 7 years (SD = 2.9) of heroin use, and been abstinent for just over a year (M = 402.5 days, SD = 223.8). Linear regression analyses revealed that self-reported ADHD symptoms predicted impulsive decision-making (IGT), but not delayed discounting (DRDT) or response inhibition (SST). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported childhood ADHD symptoms do not uniformly predict impulsivity among abstinent individuals with heroin dependence. <br><br>RESULTS suggest the IGT may be more sensitive to externalizing psychopathology among individuals with heroin dependence than other measures of impulsivity.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1550-4263",
doi="10.1080/15504263.2015.1104482",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15504263.2015.1104482"
}