WISC-IV Intellectual Profiles in Korean Children and Adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) profiles of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically-developing children (TC) in Korea. METHODS: The Korean version of the WISC-IV and the Advanced Test of Attention (ATA) were administered to 377 children and adolescents: 224 with ADHD (age 8.2±2.1 years, 182 boys) and 153 TC (age 8.7±2.4 years, 68 boys). Partial correlation and an analysis of covariance were used to investigate the relationship between the scores of the WISC-IV and the ATA. RESULTS: The mean score of the full-scale intelligence quotient was lower in ADHD children than in TC (p<0.001). In analyses controlling for gender and with the full-scale intelligence quotient as a covariate, the working memory index (WMI) (p<0.001) and values of the Digit span subtest (p=0.001) of the WISC-IV were lower in the ADHD group than in TC. The WMI (r=-0.26, p<0.001) and its subtest Arithmetic scores (r=-0.25, p<0.001) were negatively correlated with Commission errors on the auditory ATA. CONCLUSION: Children with ADHD have significantly lower WMI scores, which were clinically correlated with Commission errors on the auditory task of the ATA. Thus, the WMI is an indicator of attention deficit in children with ADHD.