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Do The Stimulant Medications Improve Neuropsychological Performance Of College Students With Adhd?, Chunqiao Luo

LSU Master's Theses

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent disorder estimated to affect 5% to 10% of school-aged children and approximately 4% of adults worldwide. The defining symptoms are hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention, which are all acutely reduced by the stimulant medications, methylphenidate and amphetamine. Nevertheless, in spite of robust short-term efficacy, long-term follow-up studies fail to show drug effects on academic achievement of ADHD students. Because recent research indicates that the medications also do not normalize performance of ADHD patients on some neuropsychological tests, we thought this might shed some light on the causes of ADHD students’ academic underachievement. There is …