First Name:
Alexandra
Last Name:
Dezii
Major Department:
Psychology
Thesis Director:
Will Canu
Date of Thesis:
May 2014
This study examined ADHD stigma across sexes within a college population. The participants included 87 women and 40 men aged 18 to 25. A sex-specific adaptation of the ADHD Stigma Questionnaire (ASQ) was used to measure stigma, as well as an ADHD treatment stigma scale to measure treatment stigma specifically. Additionally, the ten-item personality inventory was used to determine if there were any correlations between personality and levels of stigma. Regarding main effect of participant sex, no significant differences were noted for total ADHD stigma. Additionally, no significant differences were noted across questionnaire conditions with regards to total ADHD stigma. In the sex-neutral wording form of the ASQ significantly more stigma was endorsed as compared to the alternate female-indexed ASQ (p = 0.045, Cohen's d = 0.48) for the negative self-image subscale. The sexes also varied significantly on degree of ADHD treatment stigma endorsement, with males endorsing greater stigma than their female peers. ADHD stigma was found to correlate most with the openness to experience personality trait, with greater openness predicting less stigma.