In this paper the authors investigate the relationship between adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and compliance. ADHD has three core symptoms: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In a recent study ADHD symptoms correlated significantly with compliance (Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Einarsson, Bragason, & Newton, 2008), but what has not been investigated is the relative importance of inattention versus hyperactivity and impulsivity in the relationship with compliance. This is the main focus of the present study. The main research question is, which ADHD symptom dimension, inattention or hyperactivity/impulsivity, is the better predictor of compliance?
Compliance is an important concept in social psychology and is related to how people cope with pressure in personal and impersonal relationships (Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Einarsson, & Einarsson, 2008). Compliance has been found to be related to low self-esteem (Gudjonsson & Sigurdsson, 2003), insecure attachment (Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Lydsdottir, & Olafsdottir, 2008), and it is particularly high among unstable introverts (Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, & Einarsson, 2004). Within forensic contexts, high compliance has been linked with false confessions (Kassin et al., 2010 and Sigurdsson and Gudjonsson, 2001), taking blame for antisocial acts people have not committed (Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, & Einarsson, 2007), and being pressured or tricked into participating in crime (Gudjonsson & Sigurdsson, 2007).
People with a childhood development disorder, such as ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may be vulnerable to giving in to pressure by people in authority (e.g., teachers and police officers) and peers due to their high level of compliance. For example, North, Russel, and Gudjonsson (2008) found an elevated level of compliance among high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder patients, and Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Einarsson, Bragason, et al. (2008) found a significant correlation between compliance among prisoners and ADHD symptoms as measured by a DSM-IV screen. Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Einarsson, Bragason, et al. (2008) also found that prisoners who were currently symptomatic for ADHD were significantly more likely than the other prisoners to report a history of having made a false confession to police. Investigating the relationship between the type of ADHD symptoms (i.e., inattention versus hyperactivity/impulsivity) and compliance, Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Einarsson, Bragason, and Newton (2010) found that it was inattention that was a better predictor of false confession than hyperactivity/impulsivity and antisocial personality disorder. This was a surprising, but an important finding.
Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Einarsson, et al. (2010) suggested that anxiety and the disorganisational aspect of ADHD were probably the key psychological factors that mediate the relationship between inattention and false confession. This interpretation is consistent with the findings of Gudjonsson, Sigurdsson, Gudmundsdottir, and Sigurjonsdottir (2010) who have shown that the core component of maladaptive personality associated with the ADHD inattention symptoms is impaired capacity to set and achieve realistic goals. Maedgen and Carlson (2000) found that children with ADHD who were of the predominantly inattentive type displayed deficits in social knowledge and social passivity. The social passivity part of the inattentive ADHD type appears to overlap with the construct of compliance in adults as measured by the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (GCS; Gudjonsson, 1989). In the current article the authors investigate the relationship between compliance and ADHD inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms in two different groups of participants, college students and prisoners. It is hypothesised that inattention predicts compliance above and beyond that of hyperactivity/impulsivity after controlling for age (gender is also controlled for among the college student sample).
