Abstract: A series of investigations were undertaken to study the social factors in hyperactivity etiology and to develop reliable guides for the diagnosis of hyperactivity. A total of 200 children aged 8 to 13 served as subjects. Among these, 100 were control children and another 100 were found to be hyperactive after being examined by pediatricians. All were matched in age, sex and school grade. Studies were carried out on: 1. their family conditions (200 subjects); 2. performance in attention tests (46 subjects); 3. peripheral adrenaline secretion during 3 different periods(46 subjects): a) rest period before attention test, b) attention test period, and c) rest period after attention test.The results showed: 1. Hyperactive children were significantly disadvantaged by factors such as. parents' education, family relations, parental attitude toward the child and the father's smoking and drinking habits. 2. Hyperactive children showed inferior performance in attention tests. 3. The majority of control children and some hyperactive children exhibited a specific pattern of change in adrenaline excretion during rest-test-rest periods, i. e., the adrenaline excretion during the test period showed an increase over that during the rest periods before and after the test. However, some hyperactive children did not exhibit this pattern of change. 4. Level of disorder (as measured by adrenaline analysis and attention test in this experiment) was correlated with the disadvantages in family environment. The results suggest that family environment is an important factor in hyperactivity etiology and attention tests as well as urine adrenaline dynamic analysis might be useful guides for the diagnosis of hyperactivity.

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