NEUROPSYCHIATRIC AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN CONDUCT DISORDER AND ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

Neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological evaluations were performed in a pilot study of adolescents with DSM-III-R disruptive behavior disord ers, including conduct disorder (CD) and attention-deficit hyperactivi ty disorder (ADHD). The following comparisons were made: 1) CD co-morb id with ADHD vs. CD only; 2) all subjects with ADHD vs. all non-ADHD; and 3) all subjects with CD vs. all non-CD. The CD + ADHD group had in creased left-sided soft signs compared with the CD group. CD + ADHD su bjects significantly underperformed CD subjects on several executive f unctioning measures, with no differences on Verbal IQ subtests. Result s are discrepant with previous findings of deficient verbal functionin g in delinquent populations. However, findings may not be generalizabl e because of sampling limitations.