If you are thinking that ADHD does not need treatment  — or that “boys will be boys” — or that your child will just grow up and out of ADHD, you may want to find out more about a long-term study by Di Lorenzo, Balducci, Pippi, and their colleagues. The investigators reviewed studies that looked at outcomes of adults who had ADHD in their childhood or adolescence.

“Overall, we found that ADHD persisted into adulthood with a mean rate of 43% and was mainly associated with both substance/alcohol use disorders and antisocial behavior and, less frequently, with anxiety and depressive disorders. The mean rate was even higher (55%) in studies published after 2011.

Obviously, not every child or teen with ADHD will develop substance/alcohol use disorders and antisocial behavior or other psychiatric or psychosocial problems, but by now, we have so many studies all indicating that ADHD can be associated with significant problems for adults including employment issues and relationship issues.

ADHD is highly heritable. As Dr. Russell Barkley notes, height is passed on through a 95% genetic contribution; 55% for intelligence; and 35-40% for depression and personality traits. “The golden average for ADHD heredity across studies is 75%,” says Dr. Barkley, often showing up closer to 90%.

If you have concerns about your child’s development, do yourself a favor: do not go on the Internet, where you can read anything and everything and get totally overwhelmed quickly. Talk to your child’s pediatrician. Talk to your child’s teacher, too, because experienced teachers have a good sense of what is normal developmentally and what is not.  If your child is having behavioral issues in school, talk to the school psychologist, too. In some cases, a referral to a developmental pediatrician can be very helpful, although not all areas of the country seem to have them.

Reference:

Di Lorenzo R, Balducci J, Poppi C, et al. Children and adolescents with ADHD followed up to adulthood: a systematic review of long-term outcomes. Acta Neuropsychiatr. 2021 Dec;33(6):283-298.