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. 2024 Apr 2;24(1):251.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05706-2.

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

Caili Chen  1   2 , Shiyu Zhang  1   2 , Haiheng Hong  1   2 , Sunwei Qiu  1   2 , Yi Zhou  1   2 , Mengjie Zhao  1   2 , Meirong Pan  1   2 , Feifei Si  1   2 , Min Dong  1   2 , Haimei Li  1   2 , Yufeng Wang  1   2 , Lu Liu  3   4 , Edmund J S Sonuga-Barke  5 , Qiujin Qian  6   7
Affiliations

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

Caili Chen et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: 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).

Methods: 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.

Results: 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).

Conclusion: 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.

Keywords: Delay aversion; Delay discounting; Reliability; Validity; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Structural equation model, CFA
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