ADHD’s Upside: Greater Creativity?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ADHDUSMap.jpg

 

 

ADHD’s Upside: Greater Creativity?
Focusing issues may actually help those with the disorder think outside the box, researchers say

 

 

[Figure Caption – Percent of Youth 4-17 ever diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: National Survey of Children’s Health, 2003]

 

 

From the March 17 2011 Health Day news item

 

THURSDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) — The distractibility and impulsiveness that is the hallmark of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have a silver lining, according to a new study ** that suggests those with the disorder are more creative than those without.

Researchers gave 60 college students, half with ADHD, a series of tests measuring creativity across 10 domains — drama, music, humor, creative writing, invention, visual arts, scientific discovery, dance, architecture and culinary arts. The students also answered questions about their problem-solving styles, including preferences for generating, structuring, refining and implementing ideas.

The ADHD group scored higher on creativity across the board, the study authors said, and also exhibited a greater preference for brainstorming and generating ideas than the non-ADHD group, which preferred refining and clarifying ideas.

The study, a follow-up to one conducted in 2006, is published in the April issue of Personality and Individual Differences…..***

***For information on how to get this article for free or at low cost, click here.

The abstract

Creative style and achievement in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Holly A. White^{a, ,} and Priti Shah^b

^a University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA

^b University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

Received 22 June 2010;

revised 5 December 2010;

accepted 13 December 2010.

Available online 13 January 2011.

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that adults with ADHD perform better on some measures of creativity than non-ADHD adults (White & Shah, 2006). The present study replicated previous findings using a standardized measure of creativity (the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults, Goff & Torrance, 2002) and extended previous research by investigating real-world creative achievement among adults with ADHD. Results indicated that adults with ADHD showed higher levels of original creative thinking on the verbal task of the ATTA and higher levels of real-world creative achievement, compared to adults without ADHD. In addition, comparison of creative styles using the FourSight Thinking Profile (Puccio, 2002) found that preference for idea generation was higher among ADHD participants, whereas preference for problem clarification and idea development was greater among non-ADHD participants. These findings have implications for real-world application of the creative styles of adults with and without ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD; Adult; Creative achievement; Creativity; Divergent thinking; Hyperactivity/impulsivity; Inattention; Inhibitory control

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