A Comparative Study of Performance in the Conners' Continuous Performance Test Between Brazilian and North American Children
Mônica Carolina Miranda*,
Elaine Girão Sinnes,
Sabine Pompéia,
Orlando Francisco Amodeo Bueno
Department of Psychobiology, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mcarol{at}psicobio.epm.br.
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Abstract |
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Objective: The present study investigated the performance of Brazilian children in the Continuous Performance Test, CPT-II, and compared results to those of the norms obtained in the United States. Method: The U.S. norms were compared to those of a Brazilian sample composed of 6- to 11-year-olds separated into 4 age-groups (half boys) that represented the socioeconomic class distribution of São Paulo City. The children were prescreened for attention deficit disorders (ADHD). Results: Age and gender effects in the Brazilian sample were similar to those previously described. However, the Brazilian sample showed better performance in almost all measures in all age-groups compared to that of the United States. Conclusion: It is discussed that differences between samples probably reflect lack of ADHD screening of the U.S. children. More studies are necessary to determine if the CPT-II is a cross-cultural test with participants from different samples matched for age, gender, and socioeconomic status screened for ADHD. (J. of Att. Dis. XXXX; X(X) xx-xx)
