Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood-onset condition that may continue into adulthood. When assessing adult patients, clinicians usually rely on retrospective reports of childhood symptoms to evaluate the age-of-onset criterion. Since inaccurate symptom recall may impede the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD, knowledge about the factors influencing retrospective reports is needed. This longitudinal study investigated (a) the accuracy of retrospective symptom ratings by adult participants with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD (self-ratings) and parents or significant others (proxy ratings), and (b) the influence of current ADHD symptom severity and ADHD-associated impairments on retrospective symptom ratings. Participants (N = 55) were members of the Cologne Adaptive Multimodal Treatment (CAMT) study who had been referred and treated for ADHD in childhood and were reassessed in adulthood (average age 27 years). Participants’ retrospective self-ratings were substantially lower than, and did not correlate with, parents’ ADHD symptom ratings provided at study entry, while retrospective symptom ratings provided by proxy respondents correlated moderately with parents’ childhood ratings. In addition, participants were more likely to underreport childhood symptoms (79%) and more frequently denied the presence of three or more childhood symptoms (17%) compared to proxy respondents (65% underreporting, 10% false-negative recall). Proxy respondents’ symptom recall was best predicted by childhood ADHD, while participants’ symptom recall was best predicted by current ADHD symptom severity. ADHD-associated impairments were not correlated with symptom recall after controlling for childhood ADHD. Together, these findings suggest a recall bias in adult patients and question the validity of retrospective reports, even in clinical samples.

注意缺陷/多动障碍（ADHD）是儿童时期的疾病，可能持续到成年。在评估成年患者时，临床医生通常依靠儿童症状的回顾性报告来评估发病年龄标准。由于不正确的症状回忆可能会妨碍多动症的诊断和治疗，因此需要有关影响回顾性报告的因素的知识。这项纵向研究调查了（a）儿童期诊断为ADHD的成年参与者（自我评价）和父母或其他重要父母（代理评价）的回顾性症状评定的准确性，以及（b）当前ADHD症状严重程度和ADHD的影响回顾性症状分级的相关损伤。参加人数 = 55）是科隆适应性多模式治疗（CAMT）研究的成员，他们在儿童时期就被接受了ADHD的治疗，并在成年后重新评估（平均年龄为27岁）。参加者的回顾性自我评价显着低于研究开始时提供的父母的ADHD症状评分，并且与父母的ADHD症状评分没有相关性，而代理人答复者提供的回顾性症状评分与父母的童年评分有中等程度的相关性。此外，与代理人受访者相比，参与者更容易漏报儿童症状（79％），并且更经常否认存在三种或更多种儿童症状（17％）（漏报65％，假阴性召回率10％）。代理受访者的症状回忆最好由儿童多动症预测，参与者的症状回想最好根据当前的ADHD症状严重程度进行预测。控制儿童多动症后，与多动症相关的障碍与症状恢复无关。这些发现共同表明成年患者的回忆偏倚，甚至对回顾性报告的有效性提出质疑，即使在临床样本中也是如此。