Manual dexterity and strength and in young adults with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Abstract

Manual motor deficits are common in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, it is unclear whether these impairments persist into adulthood. The aim of this study was to examine manual dexterity and strength in young adults with ADHD aged 18-25 years. Sixty-one individuals with confirmed ADHD and 56 adults without ADHD completed Purdue Pegboard tasks for manual dexterity and maximal hand- and pinch-grip tests for strength. In the Purdue Pegboard task, participants placed pins using the right, left, and both-hands, respectively. In addition, participants built assemblies using pins, washers, and collars with alternating hand movements. The results demonstrated that women without ADHD out-performed the other three groups in the right-hand, bimanual, and assembly PPB tasks. Both maximal hand strength tests demonstrated that men were stronger than women, but no differences were observed between adults with and without ADHD. The current findings suggest that adults with ADHD may have deficits in manual dexterity and tasks requiring bimanual coordination.

Keywords: ADHD; Bimanual coordination; Hand strength; Manual dexterity; Pegboard.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1.

Women without ADHD (W-CTRL) achieved more completions than women with ADHD (W-ADHD), and men with (M-ADHD) and without (M-CTRL) ADHD for the right-hand, both-hands, and assembly conditions. Significance values for all pairwise comparisons were adjusted by the Bonferroni correction. Error bars represent standard deviation.

Figure 2.

Men with (M-ADHD) and without (M-CTRL) ADHD were stronger than women with (W-ADHD) and without (W-CTRL) ADHD in the left pinch-grip, left hand-grip, and right handgrip tasks. Significance values for all pairwise comparisons were adjusted by the Bonferroni correction. Error bars represent standard deviation.