The association between different sources of distraction and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Abstract

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. 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. 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. 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.