Considerable debate has arisen regarding many aspects of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including the existence, diagnosis and prevalence of the disorder, the use of medications in treating young children for the disorder, and the long-term side-effects of the medications. A fundamental catalyst in this debate involves the numerous and diverse social representations of ADHD: the differing ways of perceiving what ADHD is, whom it affects, and the most appropriate treatments. This paper presents a discussion of social representations theory and its previous applications to the study of mental illness, connecting this theory with research in media framing. Quantitative and qualitative content analyses of print media representations of ADHD over a ten-year period are presented. Using results from the media analysis, we examine different processes through which these representations might influence perceptions of individuals experiencing ADHD-related symptoms, particularly as these perceptions relate to mental health treatment decisions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abikoff, H.B., Courtney, M., Pelham, W.E., & Koplewicz, H.S. (1993). Teachers’ ratings of disruptive behaviors: The influence of halo effects . Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 21, 519–533 .
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders(3rd rev. ed.). Washington, DC: Author .
3.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders(4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author .
4.
Anderson, J.C. (1996). Is childhood hyperactivity the product of western culture? The Lancet, 348, 73–74 .
5.
Angold, A., Erkanli, A., Egger, H.L., & Costello, E.J. (2000). Stimulant treatment for children: A community perspective . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 975–984 .
6.
Arcia, E., & Fernandez, M.C. (1998). Cuban mothers’ schemas of ADHD: Development, characteristics, and help seeking behavior . Journal of Child and Family Studies, 7(3), 333–352 .
7.
Augoustinos, M., & Walker, I. (1995). Social cognition. London: Sage .
8.
Baird, J., Stevenson, J.C., & Williams, D.C. (2000). The evolution of ADHD: A disorder of communication? Quarterly Review of Biology, 75, 17–35 .
9.
Barkley, R.A. (1997). ADHD and the nature of self-control. New York: Guilford .
10.
Bradley, C. (1937). The behavior of children receiving benzedrine . American Journal of Psychiatry, 94, 577–585 .
11.
Bussing, R., Schoenberg, N.E., & Perwien, A.R. (1998). Knowledge and information about ADHD: Evidence of cultural differences among African-American and white parents . Social Science & Medicine, 46, 919–928 .
12.
Cantwell, D.P. (1996). Attention deficit disorder: A review of the past 10 years . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 978–987 .
13.
Carlson, C.L., Tamm, L., & Gaub, M. (1997). Gender differences in children with ADHD, ODD, and co-occurring ADHD/ODD identified in a school population . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1706–1714 .
14.
Carugati, F.F., & Selleri, P. (1998). Social representations and development: Experts’ and parents’ discourses about a puzzling issue. In U. Flick (Ed.), The psychology of the social(pp. 170–185). New York: Cambridge University Press .
15.
Conrad, P. (1976). Identifying hyperactive children: The medicalization of deviant behavior. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books .
16.
Conrad, P., & Potter, D. (2000). From hyperactive children to ADHD adults: Observations on the expansion of medical categories . Social Problems, 47, 559–582 .
17.
Danforth, S., & Navarro, V. (2001). Hyper talk: Sampling the social construction of ADHD in everyday language . Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 32, 167–190 .
18.
de Rosa, A.S. (1987). The social representations of mental illness in children and adults. In W. Doise & S. Moscovici (Eds.), Current issues in European social psychology(Vol. 2, pp. 47–138). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
19.
Diller, L.H. (1996). The run on ritalin: Attention deficit disorder and stimulant treatment in the 1990s . Hastings Center Report, 26, 1–8 .
20.
DuPaul, G.J., Power, T.J., Anastopoulos, A.D., & Reid, R. (1998). ADHD Rating Scale-IV. New York: Guilford .
21.
DuPaul, G.J., Power, T.J., Anastopoulos, A.D., Reid, R., McGoey, K.E., & Ikeda, M.J. (1997). Teacher ratings of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms: Factor structure and normative data . Psychological Assessment, 9, 436–444 .
22.
Durkheim, É. (1995). The elementary forms of religious life. New York: Free Press .
23.
Duveen, G., & Lloyd, B. (1990). Social representations and the development of knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
24.
Farr, R.M. (1993). Common sense, science and social representations . Public Understanding of Science, 2, 189–204 .
25.
Farr, R.M. (1995). Representation of health, illness and handicap in the mass media of communication: A theoretical overview. In I. Marková & R.M. Farr (Eds.), Representations of health, illness and handicap(pp. 3–30). New York: Routledge .
26.
Flick, U. (1998). Everyday knowledge in social psychology. In U. Flick (Ed.), The psychology of the social(pp. 41–69). New York: Cambridge University Press .
27.
Gamson, W.A., Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., & Sasson, T. (1992). Media images and the social construction of reality . Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 373–393 .
28.
Gaub, M., & Carlson, C.L. (1997). Gender differences in ADHD: A meta analysis and critical review . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1036–1045 .
29.
Gibbons, F.X., & Gerrard, M. (1997). Health images and their effects on health behavior. In B.P. Buunk & F.X. Gibbons (Eds.), Health, coping, and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory(pp. 63–94). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum .
30.
Goldman, L.S., Genel, M., Bezman, R.J., & Slanetz, P.J. (1998). Diagnosis and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents . Journal of the American Medical Association, 279, 1100–1107 .
31.
Hogg, M.A. (2000). Social identity and social comparison. In J. Suls & L. Wheeler (Eds.), Handbook of social comparison: Theory and research(pp. 401–421). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum .
32.
Jensen, P.S., Martin, D., & Cantwell, D.P. (1997). Comorbidity in ADHD: Implications for research, practice and DSM-V . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1065–1079 .
33.
Jodelet, D. (1991). Madness and social representations. Berkeley: University of California Press .
34.
Kitzinger, J. (1995). The face of AIDS. In I. Marková & R. M. Farr (Eds.), Representations of health, illness and handicap(pp. 49–68). New York: Routledge .
35.
Klasen, H. (2000). Aname, what’s in a name? The medicalization of hyperactivity, revisited . Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 7, 334–344 .
36.
Krueger, M., & Kendall, J. (2001). Descriptions of self: An exploratory study of adolescents with ADHD . Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 14, 61–72 .
37.
Kruse, L. (1998). The social representation of ‘man’ in everyday speech. In U. Flick (Ed.), The psychology of the social(pp. 196–206). New York: Cambridge University Press .
38.
Leventhal, H., Hudson, S., & Robitaille, C. (1997). Social comparison and health: A process model. In B.P. Buunk & F.X. Gibbons (Eds.), Health, coping, and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory(pp. 411–432). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum .
39.
Manderscheid, R.W., Henderson, M.J., Witkin, M.J., & Atay, J.E. (1999). Contemporary mental health systems and managed care. In A.V. Horwitz & T.L. Scheid (Eds.), A handbook for the study of mental health: Social contexts, theories, and systems(pp. 412–426). New York: Cambridge University Press .
40.
Morrow, R.C., Morrow, A.L., & Haislip, G. (1998). Methylphenidate in the United States, 1990 through 1995 . American Journal of Public Health, 88, 1121-1121 .
41.
Moscovici, S. (1976). La psychanalyse: Son image et son public. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
42.
National Institutes of Health. (1998). Diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder . NIH Consensus Statement 1998 Nov. 16–18(2).
43.
Nelson, T.E., Clawson, R.A., & Oxley, Z.M. (1997). Media framing of a civil liberties conflict and its effect on tolerance . American Political Science Review, 91, 567–583 .
44.
Newcorn, J.H., Halperin, J.M., Jensen, P.S., Abikoff, H.B., Arnold, L.E., Cantwell, D.P., et al. (2001). Symptom profiles in children with ADHD: Effects of comorbidity and gender . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 137–146 .
45.
Nolan, E.E., Gadow, K.D., & Sprafkin, J. (2001). Teacher reports of DSM-IV ADHD, ODD, and CD symptoms in schoolchildren . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 241–249 .
46.
Oyserman, D., & Markus, H.R. (1998). Self as social representation. In U. Flick (Ed.), The psychology of the social(pp. 107–125). New York: Cambridge University Press .
47.
Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1998). Social representations, discourse analysis, and racism. In U. Flick (Ed.), The psychology of the social(pp. 138–155). New York: Cambridge University Press .
48.
Riffe, D., Lacy, S., & Fico, F.G. (1998). Analyzing media messages: Using quantitative content analysis in research. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum .
49.
Samuel, V.J., Curtis, S., Thornell, A., George, P., Taylor, A., Brome, D.R., et al. (1997). The unexplored void of ADHD and African-American research: A review of the literature . Journal of Attention Disorders, 1, 197–207 .
50.
Sommer, C.M. (1998). Social representations and media communications. In U. Flick (Ed.), The psychology of the social(pp. 186–195). New York: Cambridge University Press .
51.
Still, G.F. (1902). Some abnormal psychical conditions in children. The Lancet, 1008–1012.
52.
Suls, J., Martin, R., & Leventhal, H. (1997). Social comparison, lay referral, and the decision to seek medical care. In B.P. Buunk & F.X. Gibbons (Eds.), Health, coping, and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory(pp. 195–226). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum .
53.
Tennen, H., McKee, T.E., & Affleck, G. (2000). Social comparison processes in health and illness. In J. Suls & L. Wheeler (Eds.), Handbook of social comparison: Theory and research(pp. 443–483). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum .
54.
Wagner, W., Duveen, G., Farr, R.M., Jovchelovitch, S., Lorenzi-Cioldi, F., Marková, I., et al. (1999). Theory and method of social representations . Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2, 95–125 .
55.
Whitehouse, P.J., Juengst, E., Mehlman, M., & Murray, T.H. (1997). Enhancing cognition in the intellectually intact . Hastings Center Report, 27(3), 14–22 .
56.
Zametkin, A.J., Nordahl, T.E., Gross, M., King, A.C., Semple, W.E., Rumsey, J. M., et al. (1990). Cerebral glucose metabolism in adults with hyperactivity of childhood onset . New England Journal of Medicine, 323, 361–366 .
57.
Zani, B. (1995). The mentally ill person and the others: Social representations and interactive strategies. In I. Marková & R.M. Farr (Eds.), Representations of health, illness and handicap(pp. 145–162). New York: Routledge .
58.
Zito, J.M., Safer, D.J., dos Reis, S., Gardner, J.F., Boles, M., & Lynch, F. (2000). Trends in the prescribing of psychotropic medications to preschoolers . Journal of the American Medical Association, 283, 1025–1030 .
