BACKGROUND:

The needs of children's mental health care make it necessary to have epidemiological studies that serve as a basis to refine the interventions and enhance the diagnosis with reliable and appropriate tools.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the scale for the assessment of the Attentional Deficit Disorder (ADHD) in primary and secondary schools in Chile.

METHOD:

A sample of 508 students (144 with Attentional deficits, 110 with suspected autism and 254 common) was assessed through a test completed by their teachers.

RESULTS:

The factorial structure of the ADHD revealed that three factors explain together the 71.61 % of the total variance of the scale, with a coefficient alpha of 0,948. This allows us to conclude that the scale presents acceptable psychometric characteristics and adequate internal consistency, and that its elements have a suitable discriminatory power.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIÓN:

The present study of mental health in Chilean schoolchildren revealed that the ADHD adapted scale possesses a high discriminant capacity and adequate elements and factors reliability, as well as an optimal discriminant power among factors. We analyze the implications and possible contribution to the early detection of clinical diagnosis in mental health.