Neuropsychological functioning in nonreferred siblings of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

The goal of this study was to assess neuropsychological functioning in nonr eferred siblings of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were 156 siblings of ADHD probands with (N = 40) and w ithout (N = 116) ADHD (according to criteria of the Diagnostic and Statisti cal Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edition, revised; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) and 118 siblings of non-ADHD normal controls of similar age, IQ, and grade level. Information on attention, executive, and memory f unctions was obtained in a standardized manner without knowledge of clinica l status. Compared with siblings of controls, siblings with ADHD were signi ficantly impaired on the Stroop test and on verbal learning and memory. In contrast, siblings without ADHD were similar to controls on virtually all m easures. These data suggest that some executive. attention, and verbal lear ning deficits are found in nonreferred individuals with ADHD but that neuro psychological deficits are unlikely to constitute an endophenotype to ADHD.