The instrument and its limits

What the free screening actually is, how it is scored, what the published research shows, and what this website has not validated.

The instrument

The free screening is the six-question Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1) Screener, Part A of the 18-question Adult ASRS-v1.1 Symptom Checklist developed with the World Health Organization workgroup on adult ADHD. The six items, their response options (Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, Very Often) and the six-month timeframe are presented exactly as published. No wording has been changed.

  1. How often do you have trouble wrapping up the final details of a project, once the challenging parts have been done?
  2. How often do you have difficulty getting things in order when you have to do a task that requires organization?
  3. How often do you have problems remembering appointments or obligations?
  4. When you have a task that requires a lot of thought, how often do you avoid or delay getting started?
  5. How often do you fidget or squirm with your hands or feet when you have to sit down for a long time?
  6. How often do you feel overly active and compelled to do things, like you were driven by a motor?

The 6-question Adult Self-Report Scale-Version1.1 (ASRS-V1.1) Screener is a subset of the 18-question Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-Version1.1 (Adult ASRSV1.1) Symptom Checklist. © New York University and the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Source and terms: New York University Technology Opportunities and Ventures.

How it is scored

The published scoring rule is used without modification. Items 1 to 3 count as positive when answered Sometimes, Often or Very Often. Items 4 to 6 count as positive when answered Often or Very Often. Four or more positive items indicates that your answers are “highly consistent with ADHD in adults” and that further investigation is warranted. Fewer than four does not rule ADHD out.

This site does not convert the result into a percentage, a severity band, or a probability. Those would be inventions of this website, not properties of the instrument.

What the research shows

In the original development study (Kessler and colleagues, 2005, Psychological Medicine), the six-question screener correctly identified about 68.7% of adults who met diagnostic criteria (sensitivity) and about 99.5% of those who did not (specificity), against a clinical interview in a general-population sample. The unweighted 18-question version performed at about 56.3% and 98.3% respectively. Later studies in clinical settings report different figures.

Those numbers describe the instrument under study conditions. They are not measurements of this website. Nothing on this site has been validated against clinical assessment, and we do not publish accuracy figures for it.

Licensing status of tools this site has used

  • Six-question ASRS-v1.1 Screener (in use). New York University's published terms permit use, including commercial use, with attribution and without changes other than electronic rendering. This site follows those terms; our compliance has not yet been independently confirmed and is recorded as an open gate.
  • 18-question ASRS-v1.1 Symptom Checklist (closed to new use). Commercial website use requires a separate licence from New York University. This site's entitlement has not been confirmed, so new 18-question screenings are paused.
  • 47-question “comprehensive” questionnaire (closed to new use). Assembled by this website from several sources. It has not been validated, and its earlier “meets criteria” output has been withdrawn. Historical results are shown descriptively only.

Limitations to keep in mind

  • • A screener is not a diagnosis. Diagnosis requires a clinical assessment that considers childhood history, impact across settings, and other explanations.
  • • Self-report is affected by mood, stress, sleep, other conditions and how a question is read on the day.
  • • Study performance figures come from specific samples and settings; they do not transfer automatically to a website used by the general public.
  • • A result below the threshold does not mean you do not have ADHD; a result above it does not mean you do.

Responsible next steps

If the experiences described in the screener are affecting your work, study, relationships or wellbeing, talk to a GP. In Australia a GP can discuss options and, where appropriate, refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist for assessment. Our help page explains what to bring.

References

  • Kessler RC, Adler L, Ames M, et al. The World Health Organization Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS): a short screening scale for use in the general population. Psychological Medicine. 2005;35(2):245-256. PubMed
  • ASRS-v1.1 permissions and licensing: New York University. Six-question screener terms