Brain Lateralization in Students with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Lateralization is one of the indicators of the natural evolution of the brain. The relationship between lateralization and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been the focus of some studies. The aim of this study was to compare lateralization in students with and without ADHD.

The population of this study included 130 students (57 girls and 73 boys) aged 6 to 12 years in Tehran, Iran.  With initial screening by the teacher, suspicious students were selected, and by the Connors’s Children's Behavioral Problem Scale Parent Form and Teacher Form (1999), as well as a clinical interview based on the criteria of the fifth edition of the DSM, 65 people with ADHD were selected. Moreover, 65 regular students from the same grade and schools were randomly placed in the control group. Subjects were divided into 4 groups, control, ADD, HD, and a combination of ADHD. Their lateralization was assessed using Edinburgh (1970) and Chapman (1987), Waterloo (1998), and eye superiority questionnaires.

Data analysis using the chi-square test showed that there was a significant difference between the ADHD and normal groups in all three components of hand, eye, and foot superiority. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between the group of ADD and normal and also between the group of HD and normal in the components of the superiority of hand and eye but this difference was not significant in the superiority of foot component.

There is a significant difference between lateralization in students with ADHD compared with their normal peers.