Social understanding of inattention
An examination of the representation of inattentive behaviour in clinical, educational and family textual contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.22379Keywords:
ADHD, Appraisal, evaluation, inattention, Systemic Functional LinguisticsAbstract
Inattention, one of the defining traits of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity-Impulsivity Disorder (ADHD), is occasionally perceived as less worrying than hyperactivity and impulsivity. However, those individuals who manifest it are often targets of negative misjudgements. This paper examines how the symptom of inattention is understood among three social groups with an active role in the ADHD diagnosis: the medical, the educational and the family communities. It pays particular attention to (1) similarities across the groups and (2) evaluations relating to the symptom. As datasets, for the medical community the study considers the section of the DSM-5 concerning ADHD; for the teaching community, educational guidelines; and for the family, forum threads retrieved from addforums.com. A qualitative linguistic analysis was performed for each dataset to examine the representation and evaluation of the behavioural trait. The analysis draws on Systemic Functional Grammar, including Appraisal. Inattention is consistently evaluated negatively in all three datasets, as impacting not only activities that require strong cognitive involvement, but also a wide range of ordinary activities. Differences in the representation of the symptom of inattention are explained by the pragmatic functions of the three textual genres examined.
References
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Barkley, Russell A. (1997) Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin 121 (1): 65–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.121.1.65
Barkley, Russell A. (2006) A Theory of ADHD. In Russell A. Barkley (ed.) Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment (3rd edition), 297–334. New York: The Guildford Press.
Barkley, Russell A. (2015) History of ADHD. In Russell A. Barkley (ed.) Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment (4th edition), 1–50. New York: The Guildford Press.
Bartlett, Tom (2014) Analysing Power in Language: A Practical Guide. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315851938
Bröer, Christian and Marjolijn Heerings (2013) Neurobiology in public and private discourse: The case of adults with ADHD. Sociology of Health & Illness 35 (1): 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2012.01477.x
Buitelaar, Jan K. and Aribert Rothenberger (2004) Foreword – ADHD in the scientific and political context. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 13: i1–i6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-004-1001-y
Danforth, Scot and Virginia Navarro (2001) Hyper talk: Sampling the social construction of ADHD in everyday language. Anthropology & Education Quarterly 32 (2): 167–190. https://doi.org/10.1525/aeq.2001.32.2.167
Erlandsson, Soly, Linda Lundin and Elisabeth Punzi (2016) A discursive analysis concerning information on ‘ADHD’ presented to parents by the National Institute of Mental Health (USA). International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being 11 (1): Article 30938. https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v11.30938
Farrell, Michael (2010) The Effective Teacher’s Guide to Behavioural and Emotional Disorders: Disruptive Behaviour Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Depressive Disorders, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. London: Routledge.
Frigerio, Alessandra and Lorenzo Montali (2016) An ethnographic-discursive approach to parental self-help groups: The case of ADHD. Qualitative Health Research 26 (7): 935–950. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315586553
Graham, Linda J. (2007) Speaking of ‘disorderly’ objects: A poetics of pedagogical discourse. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 28 (1): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596300601073044
Graham, Linda J. (2008) From ABCs to ADHD: The role of schooling in the construction of behaviour disorder and production of disorderly objects. International Journal of Inclusive Education 12 (1): 7–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603110701683311
Grice, Herbert P. (1989) Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Halliday, Michael A. K. and Ruqaiya Hasan (1985) Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-Semiotic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Halliday, Michael A. K. and Christian M. Matthiessen (2004) Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Routledge.
Hawthorne, Susan (2014) Accidental Intolerance: How we Stigmatize ADHD and How We Can Stop. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199977383.001.0001
Horton-Salway, Mary (2011) Repertoires of ADHD in UK newspaper media. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Health, Illness and Medicine 15 (5): 533–549. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363459310389626
Kewley, Geoff (2011) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: What can Teachers Do? New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203841723
Kutcher, Stan, Michael Aman, Sarah J. Brooks, Jan Buitelaar, Emma van Daalen, Jörg Fegert, Robert L. Findling, Sandra Fisman, Laurence L Greenhill et al. (2004) International consensus statement on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and disruptive behaviour disorders (DBDs): Clinical implications and treatment practice suggestions. European Neuropsychopharmacology 14 (1): 11–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0924-977X(03)00045-2
Lebowitz, Matthew S. (2016) Stigmatization of ADHD: A developmental review. Journal of Attention Disorders 20 (3): 199–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054712475211
Leech, Geoffrey N. and Mick Short (2007) Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose. (2nd Edition). Harlow, UK: Pearson.
Martin, James R. and Peter R. R. White (2005) The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. New York: Palgrave.
Metzger, Ashley N. and Laura T. Hamilton (2021) The stigma of ADHD: Teacher ratings of labeled students. Sociological Perspectives 64 (2): 258–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121420937739
Mirsky, Allen F. (1996) Disorders of attention: A neuropsychological perspective. In G. Reid Lyon and Norman A. Krasnegor (eds), Attention, Memory, and Executive Function, 71–96. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes
Nigg, Joel T. (2006) What Causes ADHD? Understanding What Goes Wrong and Why. New York: Guilford Press.
Rafalovich, Adam (2001) Disciplining domesticity: Framing the ADHD parent and child. Sociological Quarterly 42 (3): 373–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2001.tb02406.x
Rafalovich, Adam (2005) Exploring clinician uncertainty in the diagnosis and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Sociology of Health & Illness 27 (3): 305–323. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2005.00444.x
Schubert, Sarah J., Susan Hansen, Kyle R. Dyer and Mark Rapley (2009) ADHD patient or ‘illicit drug user’? Managing medico-moral membership categories in drug dependence services. Discourse & Society 20 (4): 499–516. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926509104025
Singh, Ilina (2004) Doing their jobs: Mothering with Ritalin in a culture of mother-blame. Social Science & Medicine 59 (6): 1193–1205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.01.011
Singh, Ilina (2007) Clinical implications of ethical concepts: Moral self-understandings in children taking methylphenidate for ADHD. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 12 (2): 167–182. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104507075920
Vilar-Lluch, Sara (2022), Redefining attitude for studying explicit and indirect evaluations of human behaviour. Functions of Language 29 (2): 199–225. https://doi.org/10.1075/fol.21022.vil
Wiener, Judith, Molly Malone, Angela Varma, Clarisa Markel, Daniella Biondic, Rosemary Tannock and Tom Humphries (2012) Children’s perceptions of their ADHD symptoms: Positive illusions, attributions, and stigma. Canadian Journal of School Psychology 27 (3): 217–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573512451972
Winter, Helen, Joanna Moncrieff and Ewen Speed (2015) ‘Because you’re worth it’: A discourse analysis of the gendered rhetoric of the ADHD woman. Qualitative Research in Psychology 12 (4): 415–434. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2015.1050748
Published
Issue
Section
License
copyright Equinox Publishing Ltd.
