Aim: Theft is one of the most serious human crimes that can be found in various ways in different societies, and various factors can play a role in it. The attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that causes the trend to high-risk behaviors can be one of the factors associated with theft. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the perceived stress and attention deficit hyperactivity in men and women thieves and comparing them with normal people.
Materials & Methods: This causal-comparative research was carried out in Rasht Central Prison, Iran, in 2015-2016. Using non-random targeted sampling method, 100 individuals (50 males and 50 females) from the prisoners committed theft, and 100 individuals (50 males and 50 females) using available non-random sampling method were selected as samples. The legal and demographic variables inventory, perceived stress, Conners’ adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder rating and the Wender Utah rating scales were used for data collection. Data were analyzed in SPSS 20 software using multivariate of variance (MANOVA) and univariate of variance (ANOVA) analyzes.
Findings: The stress and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were significantly higher in prisoners committed theft than other groups (p<0.05). The main effect of gender and the interactive effect of group*gender on stress and the main effect of gender on childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were not significant (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The level of perceived stress and attention deficit hyperactivity in childhood and adults are higher in prisoners committed theft than normal people. Therefore, must pay more attention to treatment interventions and creation or upgrade of public health services standard system of prisoners.