Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Quick Delay Questionnaire (C-QDQ) and ecological characteristics of reward-delay impulsivity of adults with ADHD

TL;DR

This study validates a Chinese version of a questionnaire that measures delay-related impulsivity in adults with ADHD and finds that ADHD patients show higher impulsivity than healthy controls.

Contribution

The study provides psychometric validation of the Chinese version of the QDQ and explores its ecological relevance in Chinese adults with ADHD.

Findings

The C-QDQ showed good reliability with Cronbach’s α between 0.83 and 0.89.

ADHD participants had higher C-QDQ scores than healthy controls, indicating greater delay-related impulsivity.

Female ADHD participants reported higher delay discounting than males, and ADHD-combined type showed higher delay aversion.

Abstract

The Quick Delay Questionnaire (QDQ) is a short questionnaire designed to assess delay-related difficulties in adults. This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the QDQ (C-QDQ) in Chinese adults, and explore the ecological characteristics of delay-related impulsivity in Chinese adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Data was collected from 302 adults, including ADHD (n = 209) and healthy controls (HCs) (n = 93). All participants completed the C-QDQ. The convergent validity, internal consistency, retest reliability and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the C-QDQ were analyzed. The correlations between C-QDQ and two laboratory measures of delay-related difficulties and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), the comparison of C-QDQ scores between ADHD subgroups and HCs were also analyzed.

The Cronbach’s α of C-QDQ was between 0.83 and 0.89. The intraclass correlation coefficient of C-QDQ was between 0.80 and 0.83. The results of CFA of C-QDQ favoured the original two-factor model (delay aversion and delay discounting). Significant positive associations were found between C-QDQ scores and BIS-11 total score and performance on the laboratory measure of delay-related difficulties. Participants with ADHD had higher C-QDQ scores than HCs, and female ADHD reported higher scores on delay discounting subscale than male. ADHD-combined type (ADHD-C) reported higher scores on delay aversion subscale than ADHD-inattention type (ADHD-I).

The C-QDQ is a valid and reliable tool to measure delay-related responses that appears to have clinical utility. It can present the delay-related impulsivity of patients with ADHD. Compared to HCs, the level of reward-delay impulsivity was higher in ADHD.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12888-024-05706-2.

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