Language of ADHD in Adults on Social Media

Published on November 13, 2017
The State of Adult ADHD Today
J. Russell Ramsay, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine

J. Russell Ramsay, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology
University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine

A recent, online ahead of print article in the Journal of Attention Disorders addresses the social media language and use in a sample of 1399 adults self-identified as being diagnosed with ADHD compared with matched controls. In addition to linguistic analysis of public Twitter posts regarding themes (including how these themes mapped onto the 5-factor model of personality), adults with ADHD were significantly more likely than controls to post between 12 midnight and 6 a.m. The study represents a novel use of social media to gain relevant information about the experiences and expressions of adults with ADHD not typically captured in other venues.

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