Drug Use and Psychosocial Functioning of a Community Derived Sample of Adolescents with Childhood ADHD.
We describe the late adolescent psychosocial outcomes from a relatively large, community-identified sample of children with ADHD who have been assessed longitudinally from childhood through late adolescence. A range of outcomes were compared between ADHD (n=119) and normal control (n=93) groups, as well as ADHD subgroups that varied as a function of the course of externalizing, predominantly ODD, problems (persisters, desisters, escalators, and resisters). ADHD youth that did not show externalizing problems during childhood (ADHD-resisters) were associated with drug use outcomes generally comparable to the normal non-affected controls. All other ADHD groups with externalizing problems (ADHD-persisters, ADHD-escalaters, and ADHD-desisters) consistently revealed worse drug use outcomes compared to controls/ADHD-resisters. However, ADHD youth with or without externalizing problems showed worse outcomes compared to the control group on the non-drug, psychosocial functioning variables. The study highlights that ADHD with co-existing disruptiveness, whether the disruptiveness persists or remits before adolescence, is associated with an increased risk for drug involvement and that ADHD, regardless of the comorbid pattern, confers a poorer level of psychosocial functioning.
Realmuto
George M
GM
Winters
Ken C
KC
August
Gerald J
GJ
Lee
Susanne
S
Fahnhorst
Tamara
T
Botzet
Andria
A