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Women & Adhd Functional Impairments: Beyond The Obvious, Noelle Marita Lynn

Masters Theses

Women with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are an understudied and underserved population. Research on women with ADHD has shown that they are significantly impaired by ADHD and its functional impairments. It also shows that women often internalize their symptoms and impairments. However, no research was found that explores what this internalization does to the women. The researcher chose to begin to address this gap in the literature through this qualitative phenomenological study. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of functional impairments caused by ADHD on the internal lived experiences of women.

The researcher conducted fourteen interviews …

Examining The Effects Of Frustration On Working Memory Capacity In An Emerging Adult Sample, Jonathan Parks Fillauer

Masters Theses

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with numerous pejorative outcomes in adults such as low frustration tolerance and deficits in central executive functioning. The present study aims to examine (1) the effect of induced frustration on working memory capacity (WMC) and (2) the unique contribution of ADHD symptoms and other commonly comorbid disorders (i.e., anxiety/depression and alcohol use) to frustration. Participants (N=66) were randomly assigned to either the control group (n=32) or the experimental group (n=34). The Frustration Induction Procedure (FIP) was administered to participants in the experimental group and a neutral, non-frustrating task was administered to a control group. A …

Central Executive Functioning And Electrodermal Levels In Adults With And Without Clinically Significant Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptoms, Megan Carl

Masters Theses

Adults diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) demonstrate impaired performance on central executive (CE) functioning tasks (Alderson, Hudec, Patros, & Kasper, 2013a; Boonstra, Oosterlaan, Sergeant, & Buitelaar, 2005; Nigg et al., 2005) and underarousal of the sympathetic nervous system as measured by the electrodermal levels (EDLs) during resting state paradigms (Hermens et al., 2004). CE functioning and arousal are linked in three theoretical models of ADHD. No study to date has examined the degree to which EDLs (arousal) are related to ADHD-related cognitive impairments. This study examined (1) performance associated with central executive functioning and (2) EDLs while increasing CE processing …

Attention, Hyperactivity, And Cognitive Performance In Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Brianna Elizabeth Pollock

Masters Theses

The extent to which Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms (i.e., inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity) are associated with ADHD-related cognitive impairments has yet to be understood. This study sought to examine between-group differences in activity level, performance on a sustained attention task and objectively measured attention, while controlling for anxiety and depression severity in a sample of adults with and without ADHD (N = 26). High precision actigraphs and behavioral codes of visual attention to task were used to examine the extent to which activity level and visual attention to task are related to performance on a sustained attention task (i.e., Continuous Performance …