Abstracts of 2002 Award Winners' Papers:

A Historical Phenomenology of Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Victor Barbetti, M.A.
Duquesne University

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a construct peculiar to modern society and contains within it an ideological background that both reveals and conceals its own significance. ADHD has eluded the grasp of the empirical sciences, revealing itself as one thing during one decade, the antithesis the next, and so on. Within the scientific literature and popular discourse we find an emphasis on "control," the breakdown of the modern classroom, the dissolution of the nuclear family, the effects of video games, the extensive hours of television viewing. This world of ADHD show us that our contemporary approach to childhood has changed. How do we understand this difference, and what difference does it make.