[Family environment and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder].
OBJECTIVE
To analyze factors associated with attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder in children.


METHODS
This is a longitudinal study about behavior problems in schoolchildren that was carried out in the city of São Gonçalo (Southeastern Brazil) in 2005. A total of 479 students from public schools was analyzed, selected through three-stage cluster sampling. The Child Behavior Checklist was used to measure the outcome. A questionnaire was administered to parents/guardians concerning the exposure factors, which were: child's and family's profile, family relationship variables, physical and psychological violence. The log-binomial regression model with a hierarchical approach was employed in the analysis.


RESULTS
Higher intelligence quotient was inversely associated with the frequency of the disorder (PR=0.980 [95%CI 0.963;0.998]). The prevalence of the disorder in the children was higher when there was family dysfunction than among families with a better way of relating (PR=2.538 [95%CI 1.572; 4.099]). Children who suffered verbal abuse from the mother had a prevalence 3.7 times higher than the ones not exposed to this situation in the last year (PR=4.7 [95%CI 1.254;17.636]).


CONCLUSIONS
Negative family relationships are associated with symptoms of Attention-Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. Its association with the intelligence quotient reiterates the importance of the genetic and environmental basis at the origin of the disorder.
Centro Latino-Americano de Estudos sobre Violência e Saúde, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sérgio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. thop100@hotmail.com
Thiago de Oliveira
Tde O
Pires
Cosme Marcelo Furtado Passos da
CM
Silva
Simone Gonçalves de
SG
Assis
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D017150:Public Sector; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students; D014888:Wechsler Scales