Abilities of keeping attention and expressing hyperactivity and impulsiveness depending on the child being male or female

Abstract

Abilities of keeping attention, expressing hyperactivity and impulsiveness, i.e. difficulties in controlling them, represent the basis of the criterion upon which hyperactivity is defined. This paper is on the sex differences in abilities of keeping attention and expressing hyperactivity and impulsiveness of the children of ordinary population. Interviewees (64) were children of the fourth grade, age 10, and they were divided into two groups depending on the sex - 32 boys and 32 girls. Estimation of a child's behavior was done by 18 items scale IVJR- R and teachers were estimators. Arithmetical mean on the scale IVJER-R on our interviewees was low (M=2, 92), which means that children of the ordinary population, the examined behavior is not so widely expressed (possible range of scores is from 0 to 18). Differences between boys and girls are connected to abilities of keeping attention, and they are expressed within limits expected for that age. The second part of the scale referring to hyper-activity and impulsiveness, average score is lower than in the first part of the scale, which shows difficulties in deferring hyperactivity and impulsiveness as manifested forms of behavior. Results of the realized research show that there is no statistically significant difference between boys and girls considering the ability of keeping attention and expressing hyperactivity and impulsiveness.

Sposobnost održavanja pažnje, ispoljavanje hiperaktivnosti i impulsivnosti, odnosno teškoće u njihovom kontrolisanju predstavljaju okosnicu kriterijuma definisanja hiperaktivnosti. U ovom radu bavili smo se ispitivanjem polnih razlika u sposobnosti održavanja pažnje i ispoljavanju hiperaktivnosti i impulsivnosti kod dece normalne populacije. Ispitanici su bili učenici četvrtog razreda osnovne škole (N = 64) podeljeni u dve grupe u odnosu na pol (32 dečaka i 32 devojčice). Procena ponašanja deteta vršena je 18-ajtemskom skalom IVJER-R, a procenjivači su bili učitelji. Aritmetička sredina na skali IVJER-R dobijena na našim ispitanicima je niska (M = 2.92), što navodi na zaključak da se kod dece normalne populacije ispitivana ponašanja slabo ispoljavaju (mogući raspon skorova od 0 do 18). Razlike između dečaka i devojčica vezane za sposobnost održavanja pažnje ispoljavaju se u granicama očekivanih za uzrast. U drugom delu skale koji se odnosi na hiperaktivnost i impulsivnost, srednje vrednosti su još niže nego u prvom delu skale, što upućuje na teškoću razlikovanja hiperaktivnosti i impulsivnosti kao manifestnih oblika ponašanja. Rezultati realizovanog istraživanja pokazuju da nema statistički značajne razlike između dečaka i devojčica u pogledu sposobnosti održavanja pažnje i ispoljavanja hiperaktivnosti i impulsivnosti.