ADHD, Religiosity, and Psychiatric Comorbidity in Adolescence and Adulthood

Abstract

Objective: Religiosity has been repeatedly proposed as protective in the development of depression, sociopathy and addictions. ADHD frequently co-occurs with these same conditions. Although ADHD symptoms may affect religious practice, religiosity in ADHD remains unexplored. Method: Analyses examined data from >8000 subjects aged 12 to 34 in four waves of the Add Health Study. Relationships of religious variables with childhood ADHD symptoms were statistically evaluated. Observed correlations of ADHD symptoms to depression, delinquency, and substance use were tested for mediation and moderation by religiosity. Results: ADHD symptoms correlated with lower levels of all religious variables at nearly all waves. In some analyses at Wave IV, prayer and attendance interacted with ADHD to predict worsened psychopathology. Conclusion: ADHD symptoms predicted lower engagement in religious life. In adulthood, some aspects of religiosity interacted with ADHD symptoms to predict worse outcomes. Further research should explore whether lower religiosity partially explains prevalent comorbidities in ADHD.

The Link between ADHD Symptoms and Antisocial Behavior: The Moderating Role of the Protective Factor Sense of Coherence

“…In one study, religiosity increased the risk of antisocial behavior such that, for religious people, ADHD was a weaker predictor of antisocial behavior. In another study, high ADHD symptoms combined with high religious participation predicted increased levels of antisocial behavior [ 11 ]. A prospective study, which examined the effect of childhood ADHD on adolescent antisocial behavior, found that a good parent–child relationship moderated and decreased the risk of antisocial behavior.…”

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Mind-Body Approaches Used Among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Adolescents

“…What is not clear, are the reasons other racial and ethnic minority populations are less likely to use meditation. In addition, while prayer could fall under the category of meditation, the construct for studies reviewed often use the word prayer and not meditation (Clayton-Jones & Haglund, 2016;Dew, Kollins, & Koenig, 2020;Kawachi, 2020;Ly et al, 2020). In addition, the results may reflect the fact that the respondents perceived CAM as being provider delivered instead of their self-management with CAM.…”

The Link between ADHD and Antisocial Behavior: The Moderating Role of the Protective Factor Sense of Coherence

“…In one study, religiosity increased the risk of antisocial behavior such that for religious people, ADHD was a weaker predictor of antisocial behavior (Novis-Deutsch et al, 2021). In another study, high ADHD symptoms combined with high religious participation predicted increased levels of antisocial behavior (Dew et al, 2020). A prospective study, which examined the effect of childhood ADHD on adolescent antisocial behavior, found that a good parent-child relationship moderated and decreased the risk of antisocial behavior.…”