The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, Version 1.1 (ASRS v1.1) is a self-report questionnaire designed to screen for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in adults aged 18 and older. It was developed in conjunction with the revision of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), by a workgroup that included Ronald C. Kessler of Harvard Medical School and Lenard Adler of NYU Langone Medical Center, together with WHO collaborators. The ASRS v1.1 is one of the most widely used adult ADHD screening instruments in both research and clinical practice. It is intended for use in the general adult population — in primary care, mental health settings, and population surveys — to help identify adults whose symptoms may warrant further evaluation. It is a screening tool: it flags the possibility of ADHD, it does not diagnose it.

The ASRS v1.1 has two layers. The full instrument is an 18-question Symptom Checklist that mirrors the 18 DSM-IV ADHD symptom criteria — nine inattentive and nine hyperactive-impulsive. The shorter, better-known Part A is a 6-question screener that is a subset of those 18 questions. Part A is designed to be a quick first-pass filter: people who screen positive on the 6-question screener may benefit from completing the full 18-question Symptom Checklist and, where indicated, a clinician evaluation. The screener is short on purpose — six questions can be answered in under two minutes — which makes it practical for busy primary care settings, waiting rooms, and self-screening at home. On FreeADHD.com, the free screening test uses the 6-question Part A screener. It uses the same six items, the same five response options, and the same published scoring rule as the official ASRS v1.1.

Each of the six Part A questions asks how often a particular behavior has occurred over the past six months. There are exactly five response options, and they are always the same: - Never - Rarely - Sometimes - Often - Very Often These options are not modified. Their wording and order are part of the instrument, and changing them would change the meaning of the responses. FreeADHD.com reproduces them exactly as published, in electronic form. The official licensing terms permit creating electronic versions but do not permit other modifications to the questions, options, or scoring.

The ASRS v1.1 Part A screener is scored by counting how many of the six responses fall in the "shaded" (threshold) region of the official paper form. The threshold is not the same for every question: - Questions 1, 2, and 3 count toward a positive screen when the response is "Sometimes" or more (Sometimes, Often, or Very Often). - Questions 4, 5, and 6 count toward a positive screen when the response is "Often" or more (Often or Very Often). A positive screen is defined as four or more of the six items falling in these threshold responses. This is the published scoring rule, and FreeADHD.com applies it without modification. For readability, FreeADHD.com also maps the raw number of flagged items onto a Low / Moderate / Elevated band, but that mapping is layered on top of the official rule and does not change it. The screener is intentionally conservative: its job is to minimize false negatives at the screening stage — to avoid missing people whose symptoms deserve a closer look — while keeping the burden of administration very low.

The ASRS v1.1 6-question screener has been studied in several validation samples. In the original development study (Kessler et al., 2005, published in Psychological Medicine), the 6-item screener showed a sensitivity of about 68.7%, a specificity of about 99.5%, and an overall classification accuracy of about 97.9% against a structured clinical interview, with a kappa of 0.76. A later validation in a representative sample of US health plan members (Kessler et al., 2007, International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research) reported an area under the ROC curve of about 0.90, which the authors described as strong concordance with clinician diagnoses. These figures are encouraging, but they describe how the instrument performs in a specific study population — not how it will perform for any one individual. Sensitivity and specificity are population statistics. A positive screen raises the likelihood that ADHD is present; it does not establish that it is. A negative screen lowers the likelihood; it does not eliminate it. Performance also depends on how representative the sample is and on the local prevalence of ADHD.

The ASRS v1.1 is a screening tool, not a diagnostic instrument. The official NYU Langone licensing page states plainly that the screener is "not a standalone diagnostic tool" and that "diagnosis or prescription should never be made solely on the basis of a score from the screener tool." A diagnosis of ADHD in an adult requires a comprehensive clinical evaluation. This typically includes a structured clinical interview, a developmental history, information from collateral sources (such as a partner, parent, or close friend) where possible, and the consideration and exclusion of other conditions that can look like ADHD — including anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, thyroid dysfunction, and the effects of substance use. A screener like the ASRS-6 is one input into that process, not a substitute for it. A self-screening result can be a useful conversation-starter with a clinician; it is not, by itself, a diagnosis.

The ASRS v1.1 is copyrighted by New York University and the President and Fellows of Harvard College. The official licensing terms, as published on the NYU Langone licensing portal, make the instrument freely available for both clinical and non-clinical use, including commercial use, provided that attribution is given. The required attribution is: "The 6-question Adult Self-Report Scale-Version 1.1 (ASRS-V1.1) Screener is a subset of the 18-question Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-Version 1.1 (Adult ASRS V1.1) Symptom Checklist. © New York University and the President and Fellows of Harvard College." The terms also specify that no modifications, other than creating electronic versions, are permitted. This means the questions, the response options, and the scoring rule must be reproduced as published. FreeADHD.com reproduces the Part A screener in electronic form only, with the required attribution, and does not modify the questions, the response options, or the scoring.

FreeADHD.com uses the ASRS v1.1 Part A 6-question screener for educational self-screening. We reproduce the six questions, the five response options, and the published scoring rule exactly as they appear in the official instrument — in electronic form only — and we provide the attribution required by the license. We do not modify the questions, the options, or the scoring. After the screener, FreeADHD.com may offer optional, self-authored supplemental questions about daily impact, sleep, stress, organization, and history. These supplemental items are educational context questions, not clinical diagnostic items, and they do not copy or adapt the ASRS, the DSM, or any other copyrighted clinical instrument. The AI personalized report then explains your structured, self-reported answers in plain language. The AI receives your screening result, domain scores, and supplemental answers as structured data, and it is instructed to use cautious language ("may", "suggests", "is consistent with"), to avoid diagnosing, to avoid recommending medication, and to always recommend speaking with a qualified healthcare professional when relevant. The AI does not decide whether you have ADHD.

A short, self-administered screening tool has clear limits: - It cannot diagnose ADHD, and it cannot rule ADHD out. - It relies entirely on self-reported answers, which may be incomplete, inaccurate, or influenced by mood and circumstances at the time. - ADHD-like traits overlap considerably with anxiety, depression, sleep problems, burnout, trauma, and several medical conditions. The screener cannot tell these apart. - The ASRS v1.1 was developed against DSM-IV criteria; later editions of the DSM have refined some wording, though the core symptoms assessed remain the same. - A positive screen is not, by itself, evidence of ADHD. Consider speaking with a qualified healthcare professional — such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, or your primary care physician — if your screening result is positive, if symptoms are causing you distress or difficulty at work, school, or in relationships, or if you simply want a clearer understanding of what you are experiencing. A clinician can perform a full evaluation, consider alternative explanations, and discuss options that a self-screening tool cannot. The ASRS v1.1 is a useful, well-validated starting point. It is not a destination.