A qualitative study exploring the life-course experiences of young offenders with symptoms and signs of ADHD who were detained in a residential care setting.
BACKGROUND
An association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and offending is increasingly being recognised among youths in the criminal justice system, but is poorly understood.


METHODS
Using the qualitative methodology of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, we explored the self-reported life-course experiences of five adolescents in a young offenders' secure unit; all had been rated by teachers on Conner's scale as having ADHD, although only one had received a clinical diagnosis.


RESULTS
Three master themes were identified: loss, a search for belonging and responses to confinement. The themes suggest that both the ADHD and the offending behaviour of these young men need to be understood in the context of losses that they have suffered and their responses to these losses. They showed a preoccupation with family matters and a desperate wish to find a way to belong; they almost seemed to welcome some aspects of their confinement.


CONCLUSIONS
These themes suggest that 'being held' may, to some extent, fulfil a self-identified need for belonging and reattachment after major losses. Therapeutic interventions may need to take account of the possibility that this confinement may also validate for these young men a tendency to attribute the course of their lives to external factors.
Young
Susan
S
Department of Forensic Mental Health Science, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. Susan.Young@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Chesney
Simon
S
Sperlinger
David
D
Misch
Peter
P
Collins
Philip
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology*; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires