Attitudes and preferences toward exercise interventions in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A survey study

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic details for the whole group as well as the comparisons for medicated and unmedicated ADHD participants.

Characteristic	Whole sample (N = 117)	Medicated (N = 74)	Unmedicated (N = 43)	Test statistics
	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)	χ^2	df	p
Gender				.743	1	.389
Male	36 (30.8)	21 (28.4)	15 (34.9)
Female	78 (66.7)	52 (70.3)	26 (60.5)
Non-Binary*	3 (2.6)	1 (1.4)	2 (4.7)
Disposable income				.460	1	.498
Yes	78 (66.7)	51 (68.9)	27 (62.8)
No	39 (33.3)	23 (31.1)	16 (37.2)

*Given the low number identifying as non-binary, this category was removed from all gender analyses.

Table 2. Clinical characteristics of the whole sample and the medicated and unmediated ADHD participants comparison.

ASRS	Whole sample M (SD)	Medicated M (SD)	Unmedicated M (SD)	t	df	p	95% CI
Total	47.48 (13.73)	46.88 (13.41)	49.35 (14.27)	−.938	115	.350	−7.687, 2.746
Screener	16.78 (4.74)	16.46 (4.61)	17.34 (4.96)	−.978	115	.330	−2.691, .913
Inattention	11.39 (3,42)	11.08 (3.31)	11.93 (3.56)	−1.298	115	.197	−2.145, .447
Hyperactivity	5,39 (1.82)	5.38 (1.77)	5.42 (1.93)	−.115	115	.909	−.736, .656

Table 3. Exercise habits of the whole group and the medicated and unmedicated ADHD participants with group comparison.

	Whole group	Medicated	Unmedicated	Test statistics
Characteristic	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)	χ^2	df	p
Fitness to exercise				1.438	1	.230
Fit	82 (70)	49 (66.2)	33 (76.7)
Unfit	35 (30)	25 (33.8)	10 (23.3)
Exercise levels				.057	1	.811
Active	88 (75.2)	54 (77.1)	34 (79.1)
Insufficiently active	26 (22.4)	17 (22.9)	9 (20.9)
Exercise at least once per week				.008	1	.930
Yes	92 (78.6)	58 (78.4)	34 (79.1)
Type				2.52	2	.283
Cardio	31 (26.5)	17 (29.3)	14 (41.4)
Non-cardio	8 (6.8)	4 (6.9)	4 (11.8)
Mixed	53 (45.3)	37 (63.8)	16 (47.1)
Intensity				.310	1	.578
High	44 (47.8)	26 (45.6)	18 (52.9)
Moderate	40 (43.5)	26 (45.6)	14 (41.2)
Low*	7 (6.0)	5 (8.8)	2 (5.9)
No	25 (21.4)	16 (21.6)	9 (20.9)
Gym membership				.629	1	.428
Yes	26 (22.2)	18 (25)	8 (18.6)
No	89 (76.1)	54 (75)	35 (81.4)
Access to sports equipment				.614	1	.433
Yes	78 (66.7)	51 (69.9)	27 (62.8)
No	38 (32.5)	22 (30.1)	16 (37.2)

*Excluded from chi-square due to expected frequency less than 5 in both medicated and unmedicated groups.

Table 4. Exercise preferences in the whole sample and the groups of medicated and unmedicated ADHD participants.

	Whole sample	Medicated	Unmedicated	Test statistics
Characteristic	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)	χ^2	df	p
Preferred format				.203	2	.904
Cardio	21 (17.9)	14 (18.9)	7 (16.7)
Non-cardio	9 (7.7)	6 (8.1)	3 (7.1)
Mixed	86 (73.5)	54 (73.0)	32 (76.2)
Preferred intensity				.194	1	.660
No preference*	20 (17.1)	12 (16.2)	8 (18.6)
Low**	7 (6.0)	4 (5.4)	3 (7.0)
Moderate	45 (38.5)	30 (40.5)	15 (34.9)
High	45 (38.5)	28 (37.8)	17 (39.5)
Willing to log				.886	1	.347
Yes	108 (92.3)	67 (92.0)	41 (95.3)
No	9 (7.7)	7 (8.0)	2 (4.7)
Only treatment time				20.39	2	< .001
None**	4 (3.4)	3 (4.1)	1 (2.4)
A little**	6 (5.1)	5 (6.8)	1 (2.4)
Moderate amount	45 (38.5)	34 (45.9)	11 (26.2)
A lot	27 (23.1)	7 (9.5)	20 (47.6)
A great deal	34 (29.1)	25 (33.8)	9 (21.4)
Adjunct treatment				.5.835	2	.054
None**	4 (3.4)	2 (27)	2 (4.9)
A little**	6 (5.1)	5 (6.9)	1 (2.4)
Moderate amount	41 (35.0)	31 (41.9)	10 (24.4)
A lot	33 (28.2)	16 (21.6)	17 (41.5)
A great deal	31 (26.5)	20 (27.0)	11 (26.8)

*Excluded from analysis as indicator of no preference. **excluded from analysis to avoid >20% expected cell counts being <5.

Figure 1. Preferred exercise delivery support.

Figure 2. Importance of attributes of exercise intervention.

Data availability statement

All data is available on reasonable request to the corresponding author.