Association between ADHD symptoms and adolescents' psychosocial well-being: a study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986

Abstract

Objectives. To investigate the psychosocial well-being of adolescents with and without symptoms of attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Study design. A cross-sectional study. Methods. Adolescents who were 15 and 16 years old with (n=487) and without (n=5988) ADHD symptoms were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n=9432). ADHD symptoms were assessed by the parents on the SWAN scale while the adolescents completed a questionnaire on their current life situation. Results. The adolescents with ADHD symptoms more often attended a special school and had repeated a grade than those without. Over one-third of those with symptoms were uncertain about their educational plans while 44% of them preferred vocational education. They also reported their health as being poorer and they visited a physician or a nurse more often than the others. Most adolescents reported that they were satisfied with their life, but there were a larger proportion of adolescents with ADHD symptoms among the fairly dissatisfied ones. As well, boys with ADHD symptoms reported the lack of close friends. Adverse psychosocial factors accumulated in those adolescents with greater ADHD symptoms. Conclusions. The adolescents with ADHD symptoms considered their psychosocial well-being to be poorer than those without ADHD symptoms. In clinical work, it is essential to recognize the most impaired adolescents who need special attention and support at school as well as in their social interactions with their peers and families. From a public health perspective, this information is necessary in order to focus society's limited resources on those with a higher risk of experiencing complicated outcomes. (Int J Circumpolar Health 2009; 68(2):133-144)

Association Between Childhood Specific Learning Difficulties and School Performance in Adolescents With And Without ADHD Symptoms

“…It is a time of mental turmoil, and even though there are studies that indicate that the majority of adolescents actually go through this stage successfully, without any major problems and reporting a level of relative well-being, there are also studies showing contrary results (Arnett 1999;Newman et al, 1996). Our earlier study (Taanila et al, 2009) on psychosocial wellbeing of the adolescents in this birth cohort indicated that many negative factors affect the life and functioning of the adolescents with ADHD symptoms compared with those without ADHD. For instance, those with ADHD symptoms reported that they did not like going to school over 5 times more commonly than those without symptoms, which surely has an effect on their school performance.…”

The Impact of Financial Reward Contingencies on Cognitive Function Profiles in Adult ADHD

“…Subjects are asked to evaluate the items on a seven-point Likert rating scale (from 1 =  disagree to 7 =  agree) and higher scores reflect higher task-related motivation. As differences in education history (subjects with ADHD more often attend special schools, repeat grades, more often receive special educational services and are less likely to graduate from school [98], [99]), self-esteem, and control beliefs (subjects with ADHD have a more external locus of control and suffer from lower self-esteem [100]–[102]) may differentially affect task-related motivation in both experimental groups, the QCM was considered to be a possible covariate of interest in the present study in order to rule out systematic motivational group differences which might already have existed prior to the experimental manipulation of reward options in the present study and which might independently impact the dependent variables. The prognostic value of the QCM was demonstrated by showing that mastery confidence and incompetence fear predicted learning performance in a complex, computer-simulated system [97].…”

Contextual influence of highly valued rewards and penalties on delay decisions in children with ADHD

“…As differences in education history (subjects with ADHD more often attend special schools, repeat grades, more often receive special educational services and are less likely to graduate from school, Murphy, Barkley, & Bush, 2002;Taanila, Hurtig, Miettunen, Ebeling, & Mailanen, 2009), self-esteem, and control beliefs (subjects with ADHD have a more external locus of control and suffer from lower self-esteem, Carlson, Mann, & Alexander, 2000;Niederhofer, 2008;Rucklidge, Brown, Crawford, & Kaplan, 2007) may differentially affect task-related motivation in both experimental groups, the QCM was considered to be a possible covariate of interest in the present study in order to rule out motivational explanations other than DA, which could cause group differences in experimental choice behavior.…”