Behavior differences in drivers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: The driving behavior questionnaire

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been linked to an increased number of driving citations, especially for speeding and a four-fold increase in accident risk. Using three factors-errors, lapses and violations-found in prior work, we ran regression analyses to explore the impact of ADHD status, gender and age on error, lapse and violation report scores. The results indicate that ADHD status is positively and significantly related to error, lapse and violation scores. In the cases of errors and violations, however, interactions between ADHD status and age are significant such that older participants with ADHD do not differ statistically from controls. There were no significant effects of age on error, lapse or violation scores for control participants. Consistent with earlier work, gender was significantly related to violation scores, but not to errors or lapses, such that men were more likely than women to report higher violation scores, controlling for ADHD status and age. We consider possible explanations for these findings and discuss the implications of these results for the accident risk of individuals with ADHD as they age.