Relationship between the Delay Task and Rating Scale measures of Inattention and Hyperactivity

A group of 187 elementary school children were administered a microcomputer version of the Delay Task (Gordon, 1979) in which responses were reinforced only when they followed the preceding response by at least 6 seconds. They were also rated on the Conners Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS) by their classroom teacher. Performance on the Delay Task was not correlated with any of the CTRS subscales for the overall sample. Sex differences were found in the Conduct, Inattention, and Hyperactivity factors of the CTRS. No sex difference was found for performance on the Delay Task. When performance on the Delay Task was correlated with the four CTRS factors by sex, correlations between the Delay Task and the inattention subscale and hyperactive subscale were significant only for the male subsample. Implications of the findings for assessment of hyperactivity are discussed.The research was supported by an equipment grant from the University of Auckland Research Committee. The first author's contribution was supported by a postgraduate scholarship from the Medical Research Council of New Zealand. We thank Lisa Tapp and Julia Rooke for assistance with data collection. We also acknowledge the support and cooperation of the staff of Mt. Eden Normal Primary School.