Date of Award

5-1998

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an increasingly pervasive psychiatric disorder among elementary school aged children. It is estimated that between three and five percent of all grade-school children suffer from this disorder. Because teachers are central figures in the academic environment of young children, any negative attitudes that teachers hold about ADHD could have a tremendous impact on the academic self-efficacy and success of students diagnosed with ADHD. An extensive literature review found no instruments designed to measure attitudes toward persons with ADHD.

The present study developed a psychometric instrument to measure teacher attitudes toward children with ADHD. This instrument was constructed based on the error-choice test method, which is an indirect method of attitude measurement. An indirect method of attitude measurement was chosen because of extensive past research that has uncovered a frequent pattern of response distortions which produce systematic errors in direct attitudinal instruments.

This study tested 103 North Dakota elementary school teachers. The results of this research found that the error-choice instrument possesses adequate internal reliability, with a Cronbach's coefficient alpha of 0.82. In addition, the results yielded evidence to suggest that the scale has discriminant and construct validity

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