The DOI matches its Crossref record; 109 of the 110 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Big five dimensions and ADHD symptoms: links between personality traits and clinical symptoms
Abstract
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adulthood is conceptualized as originating in childhood. Despite considerable theoretical interest, little is known about how ADHD symptoms relate to normal personality traits in adults. In 6 studies, the Big Five personality dimensions were related to ADHD symptoms that adults both recalled from childhood and reported concurrently (total N = 1,620). Substantial effects emerged that were replicated across samples. First, the ADHD symptom cluster of inattention-disorganization was substantially related to low Conscientiousness and, to a lesser extent, Neuroticism. Second, ADHD symptom clusters of hyperactivity-impulsivity and oppositional childhood and adult behaviors were associated with low Agreeableness. Results were replicated with self-reports and observer reports of personality in community and clinical samples. Findings support theoretical connections between personality traits and ADHD symptoms.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Individuals diagnosed with ADHD score generally lower on conscientiousness and higher on neuroticism compared to controls (20–24).”
From Trait mindfulness and personality characteristics in a microdosing ADHD sample: a naturalistic prospective survey study (2023) · cites this paper as [22]
Citations
Cites
THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A META‐ANALYSIS
BARRICK, M. R., & MOUNT, M. K. (1991) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb00688.x · Cited by 8,689
(1999) · Cited by 7,995
The structure of phenotypic personality traits.
Goldberg, L. R. (1993) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.48.1.26 · Cited by 4,816
Executive functions and developmental psychopathology.
Pennington, B. F., & Ozonoff, S. (1996) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01380.x · Cited by 3,150
A revised version of the Psychoticism scale
Eysenck, S. B. G., Eysenck, H. J., & Barrett, P. (1985) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/0191-8869(85)90026-1 · Cited by 3,094
Benet-Martínez, V., & John, O. P. (1998) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.75.3.729 · Cited by 1,996
Self-citationNigg, J. T. (2000) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.2.220 · Cited by 1,941 · cited 3×
“However, like neuropsychological measures (Nigg, 2000), personality traits do not fully explain ADHD symptom variation.”
BackgroundInfluentialPersonality and Individual Differences
Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, M. W. (1985) · doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-2413-3 · Cited by 1,893
Higher-order factors of the Big Five.
Digman, J. M. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.73.6.1246 · Cited by 1,839
A contrarian view of the five-factor approach to personality description.
Block, J. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.2.187 · Cited by 1,682 · cited 1×
“Thus, although debate still continues about the number and nature of personality trait dimensions (Block, 1995), these five dimensions seem a good starting point for investigation of links between personality and ADHD.”
Background
Research works printed but not linked: 33
- Achenbach, 1997, Manual for the Young Adult Self Report and Young Adult Behavior Checklist.
- 1994, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
- 10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.116 · DOI · Paper page
- 10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.65 · DOI · Paper page
- Barkley, 1998, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- 10.1037/0022-3514.75.3.729 · DOI · Paper page
- Brown, 1996, Brown attention-deficit disorder scales.
- Cohen, 1988, Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences.
- Cohen, 1983, Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences
- Conners, 1999, Adult ADHD rating scales: Technical manual.
- Costa, 1992, NEO PI-R: Professional manual.
- 10.1037/0022-3514.73.6.1246 · DOI · Paper page
- Eysenck, 1967, The biological basis of personality.
- Jackson, 1989, Personality Research Form manual. Port.
- John, 1991, The Big Five Inventory--Versions 4a and 54. Berkeley, CA: University of California
- Kern, 1999, Lifestyle, personality, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in young adults., Journal of Individual Psychology, 55, 186
- Kessler, 1999, Retrospective adult assessment of childhood psychopathology., 256
- 10.1017/S0021963099004047 · DOI · Paper page
- McCrae, 1999, A five-factor theory of personality., 139
- Nigg, 1998, Developmental psychopathology, personality, and temperament: Reflections on recent behavior genetic research., Human Biology, 70, 387
- Plomin, 1999, Behavioral genetics and personality., 251
- Robins, 1995, The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-IV (DIS-IV).
- Robins, 1994, Major dimensions of personality in early adolescence: The Big Five and beyond., 267
- 10.1037/0021-843X.103.1.55 · DOI
- Swanson, 1992, School-based assessments and interventions for ADD students.
- Tzelepis, 1995, Differential diagnosis and psychiatric comorbidity patterns in adult attention deficit disorder., 35
- Ward, 1993, The Wender Utah Rating Scale: An aid in retrospective diagnosis of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder., The American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 885
- Weiss, 1993, Hyperactive children grown up.
- Weiss, 1999, ADHD in adulthood: A guide to current theory, diagnosis, and treatment.
- Wender, 1985, The AQCC (Adult Questionnaire Childhood Characteristics) scale., Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 21, 927
- Wender, 1995, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults.
- Wolf, 2001, College students with ADHD and other hidden disabilities: Outcomes and interventions., Vol. 931, 385
- Zuckerman, 1991, Psychobiology of personality.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Emotional intelligence: An integrative meta-analysis and cascading model
Joseph, D. L., & Newman, D. A. (2010) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0017286 · Cited by 1,722
Temperament and developmental psychopathology
Nigg, J. T. (2006) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01612.x · Cited by 971
Self-citationIs ADHD a disinhibitory disorder?
Nigg, J. T. (2001) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.5.571 · Cited by 939
Temperament as a unifying basis for personality and psychopathology.
Clark, L. A. (2005) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.114.4.505 · Cited by 796
NIGG, J. T., & CASEY, B. J. (2005) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579405050376 · Cited by 593
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Nigg, J. T., John, O. P., Blaskey, L. G., Huang-Pollock, C. L., Willcutt, E. G., Hinshaw, S. P., & Pennington, B.
- Affiliations
- Michigan State University (US)
- University of California System (US)
- University of Colorado System (US)
- University of Denver (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2002-08
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 451-469
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2124821810
- Cited by
- 315
- References
- 110
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 5.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1r03mh057244-01, 5r29mh049255-05)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH 45064, MH 43948, MH 49255, MH 38820, R01MH043948, MH57244)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD 27802, HD-04024, P30HD004024, P50HD027802)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Keywords
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, adult ADHD, Big Five personality traits, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional behavior, childhood ADHD symptoms
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Models, Psychological, Parents, Personality, Mental Recall, United States, Reproducibility of Results
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review