Adolescent ADHD and family environment—an epidemiological and clinical study of ADHD in the Northern Finland 1986 Birth Cohort

• Main Author: Hurtig, T. (Tuula)
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Oulu 2007
• Subjects: ADHD; adolescent; attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity; attention problems; behavioural disorder; behavioural problems; birth cohort; cross-sectional studies; epidemiology; family characteristics; epidemiologia; käyttäytymisen ongelmat; käyttäytymishäiriö; nuoret; perhetausta; poikittaistutkimus; syntymäkohortti; tarkkaavuuden ongelmat; tarkkaavuushäiriö; Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789514284229

Abstract The primary aim of this study was to survey attention and behavioural problems among Finnish adolescents living in different family environments. The second aim was to study the psychosocial well-being of these adolescents. The third aim was to study the psychiatric comorbidity of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in association with the family environment. The fourth aim was to study the persistence of ADHD from childhood to adolescence. In the first phase, 15-year-old adolescents and their parents from the Northern Finland 1986 Birth Cohort (N = 9432) completed questionnaires on attention and behavioural problems, family characteristics and the life situation of the adolescents. In the second phase, 457 adolescents aged from 16 to 18 years were drawn from the cohort. After assessment with a clinical semi-structured interview, logistic regression models were used to study ADHD and the persistence of the diagnosis and comorbid psychopathology in association with family characteristics. Girls reported more commonly than boys attention and behavioural problems, while their parents reported more attention problems in their sons than daughters. Living in other than intact families was related to attention and behavioural problems in both genders. Adolescents with ADHD symptoms considered their physical health and psychosocial well-being poor more often than their controls. Psychosocial problems accumulated for those with many ADHD symptoms. Adolescents with ADHD had more commonly than others comorbid behavioural disorder, alcohol abuse and depression. Those with ADHD and comorbidity lived more commonly than others in non-intact families, in low-income families, with mothers who were dissatisfied with life and with parents who showed little interest in their adolescent’s activities. Persistence of ADHD into adolescence occurred in about two thirds of cases. Those who persisted with the diagnosis compared to those who remitted it had more dreamy-like inattentive symptoms, and had more often ...