• Age
• Gender
• Other Demographic Factors

Age has an impact on many of the Conners 4 scales and is therefore taken into consideration in the norms. Gender has a smaller impact on certain scales, and the assessor has the option to take gender into consideration in the norms. Conversions from raw scores to T-scores and percentiles are based on age (and gender, if Gender Specific reference samples are selected). Please see chapter 7, Standardization, for further information about the age and gender differences on the Conners 4.

Age

Given that the Conners 4 rating scales span a wide age range (ages 6 to 18 years), the Conners 4 T-scores and percentiles take age into account. As children age, many behaviors and skills change. For example, while it is typical for a 6-year-old child to have some difficulty with staying seated for long periods of time, it is less common for a 17-year-old to wiggle and squirm during an academic lecture. Most of the items on the Conners 4 show developmental change across the 6- to 18-year-old range. Because it does not make sense conceptually to compare a 6-year-old child to a teenager, the most accurate and fair way to assess whether a youth’s behavior is typical for their chronological age is to compare them to others who are of the same age (see Standardization Procedures and Continuous Norming in chapter 7, Standardization).

Gender

Traditionally, gender has been divided into two categories of male and female. These categories refer to socially constructed roles, identities, and behaviors, and they are different from a person’s sex, which is a biological construct based on genetics, anatomy, and physiology. There are individuals whose gender is the same as their sex, individuals whose gender differs from their sex at birth, and individuals who indicate that their gender is something other than male or female. On all Conners 4 forms, there is an optional “Gender” field (as opposed to sex at birth) which can be provided as part of the basic demographics, including response options of Male, Female, and Other (with a Please Specify field). Some Conners 4 scales have small gender differences (see detailed results in Gender in chapter 10, Fairness). To account for these differences, Combined Gender would be the most appropriate reference sample for score comparison when comparing to Normative Samples or ADHD Reference Samples. Gender Specific reference samples are also available and most appropriate when the degree of difference of the youth’s score relative to others of the same gender is of greatest importance (for more discussion of when to use which norm and reference group, see chapter 3, Scoring and Reports).

Other Demographic Factors

Psychosocial factors, such as the youth’s racial, ethnic, and cultural background, socioeconomic status, and family environment are also important considerations when interpreting results. For example, parents from different cultures might have different perceptions of desirable behavior. Parenting styles within different cultures may also vary. These environmental factors may have an impact on behavior directly or be reflected in how the rater observes and reports the youth’s behavior. On the Conners 4 Teacher, specifically, there was a small, but statistically significant trend for Black students to be rated higher on some scales than White students. This trend of ratings may be important to keep in mind when comparing results for Black youth from the Parent and Self-Report form to the Teacher form, as one may erroneously conclude that the youth behaves differently at school compared to at home. This pattern is also documented in literature to the extent that teachers may perceive Black and Hispanic students’ behavior as more problematic than their White peers (Neal et al., 2003; Rowley et al., 2014). Please see chapter 10, Fairness, for more details regarding this pattern, as well as evidence for the lack of measurement bias found in the Conners 4 Teacher, suggesting that this pattern is not an inherent bias produced by the test itself.