14 DAY TRIAL // Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is considered by some to be the most fast-spreading condition affecting children and teens today. Researchers who are involved in studying it say that it causes a host of problems, including difficulties socializing, a drop in academic performance levels, sleep disorders, as well as a predisposition to criminal activities later on. Previous investigation have focused on the effects of this condition on young boys, who were found to have higher chances of becoming antisocial, or suffering from mood and anxiety disorders during their lifetime. But a new study looked at how girls suffering from ADHD are influenced in the long run, LiveScience reports.
The investigators behind the new study wanted to learn whether girls would fare better, worse, or the same as boys later on in life, while being influenced by ADHD. Therefore, the team setup a host of experiments in which some 262 young girls, up to their teen years, were analyzed from a mental health perspective. Then, about 11 years later, after the participants had developed into young women, the researchers screened the same group again, for a wide range of mental problems. The original study group was made up of children who had been diagnosed with ADHD, but also from girls that were not suffering from the condition at the time.
In order to assess the changes that the test subjects underwent over the 11 years, the experts used a tool commonly employed in this field of research, called the SCID (standardized structured diagnostic interview). The follow-up rate for the study – as in the number of the original participants that the researchers could survey again after the test period – was between 69 and 75 percent, and so the scientists had sufficient data to work with. One of the first conclusions that was made obvious is the fact that girls suffering from ADHD have a 20 to 25 percent higher chance of showing signs of clinical or major depression, as well as anxiety, later in life.
What really amazed the researchers about their results is the fact that the vast majority of the ADHD patients had received treatment for their condition throughout this period. In other words, it could be that existing therapies have very little influence on the actual causes of the disorder, and rather only focus on the symptoms. The team also found that girls with ADHD at the beginning of the study were a lot more likely to exhibit an antisocial behavior later on, a finding that is in tune with results obtained when the same type of research was conducted on boys.