Clinical, Sociobiological, and Cognitive Predictors of ADHD Persistence in Children Followed Prospectively Over Time

Source: Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

With increasing awareness about Attention Deficiency and Hyperactivity Disorder and with the realization that it is chronically disabling, a large amount of literature study has been conducted on the childhood clinical indicators depicting the persistence of ADHD.

A study conducted by the psychologists of the Waterloo University investigated if the childhood factors due to reflection of biological risk and cognitive reserve have an additive and a predictive value for the reason of persistence of ADHD which is unique and beyond childhood indicators of disorder severity.

One-hundred thirty children identified with ADHD were followed into their adolescence period. Childhood ADHD and comorbidities were measured via interviews with the child’s parents and teachers; parental psychopathology was measured through parent interview; exposure to neurobiological and psychosocial adversity were identified by parent questionnaire; and cognitive reserve was examined through children’s performance on measures of Intelligence Quotient and their executive functioning.

Univariate analyses was used to identify the childhood inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, overall impairment, comorbid oppositional defiant disorder, and paternal anxiety and depression as it was quite prevalent amongst adolescents with persistent when compared with remitted ADHD. Only child-level predictors were found to be significant on a final multivariate model.

These results suggested that, the children who are most likely to have persistent ADHD depicts a more severe clinical presentation in childhood, which is reflected by higher levels of inattention, impairment and oppositional behavior.

These children are also more likely to have fathers who experienced internalizing concerns, but these concerns alone do not uniquely predict ADHD persistence beyond the child-level factors. On the other hand, contrary to expectations, childhood adversity and cognitive functioning were not identified as predictors of the course of ADHD.