title: The association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms and self-employment.
abstract: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms have been associated with the decision to become self-employed. Although these symptoms are generally regarded as disadvantageous, there may also be a bright side. To our knowledge, however, there has been no systematic, epidemiological evidence to support this claim. This paper examines the association between ADHD symptoms and self-employment in a population-based sample from the STAGE cohort of the Swedish Twin Registry (N = 7208). For replication, we used a sample of Dutch students who participated in the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey (N = 13,112). In the Swedish sample, we found a positive association with self-employment for both general ADHD symptoms [odds ratio (OR) 1.13; 95 % confidence intervals (CI) 1.04-1.23] and hyperactivity symptoms [OR 1.19; 95 % CI 1.08-1.32], whereas no association was found for attention-deficit symptoms [OR 0.99; 95 % CI 0.89-1.10]. The positive association between hyperactivity and self-employment was replicated in the Dutch student sample [OR 1.09; 95 % CI 1.03-1.15]. Our results show that certain aspects of ADHD, in particular hyperactivity, can have a bright side, as they are positively associated with self-employment.
authors.affiliation: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. iverheul@rsm.nl.|Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. iverheul@rsm.nl.
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Verheul
authors.affiliation: Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Institute for Behavior and Biology (EURIBEB), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rietdijk
authors.affiliation: Professur für Unternehmensführung, Universität Trier, Trier, Germany.|Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Joern
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Block
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ingmar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Franken
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Karolinska Institutet Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Institute for Behavior and Biology (EURIBEB), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.|Montpellier Business School, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thurik
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002321:Career Choice; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ADHD; Attention-deficit; Hyperactivity; Self-employment; Symptoms