Researchers believe that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk for alcohol- as well as other substance-related problems as they grow older.
Yet the research is not always consistent. Two new studies help to confirm that ADHD is a risk factor for alcohol problems; adding that parental alcoholism and stressful experiences in the family play an important role in this risk.
Results are published in the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
"Children with ADHD are believed to be at risk for alcoholism because of their impulsivity and distractibility, as well as other problems that often accompany ADHD such as school failure and behavior problems," explained Brooke Molina, associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, and corresponding author for both studies.
In the first study, on "Age specificity," Molina and her colleagues interviewed participants in the larger Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study. Children diagnosed with ADHD (n=364) were interviewed either as adolescents (11 to 17 years of age) or as young adults (18 to 28 years of age). Demographically and age-matched individuals without ADHD were also recruited as adolescents (n=120) or as adults (n=120) to serve as a comparison. Alcohol use was determined through questionnaires and interviews.
"We found that the children with ADHD were more likely than the comparison group to drink heavily and to have enough problems related to their drinking that they were diagnosed with alcohol abuse or dependence," said Molina. "This means that their drinking caused problems such as fights with their parents or friends, a drop in their grades at school, or difficulty with controlling the amount of alcohol that they drank."
Drinking problems began around age 15, said Molina. "The 15-to-17-year olds with childhood ADHD reported being drunk an average of 14 times in the previous year, versus only 1.8 times for 15-to-17-year olds in the study who did not have childhood ADHD. Whereas 14 percent of the 15-to-17-year olds with childhood ADHD were diagnosed with alcohol abuse or dependence, none of the 15-to-17-year olds without childhood ADHD were."
"It appears that one of the reasons for the past inconsistencies in research is that the ADHD-alcohol relationship does not become solid until at least mid-adolescence," observed Stephen Hinshaw, professor and chair of the department of psychology at UC Berkeley. "Later on, it may be that only a subset of kids with ADHD ,namely, those with more aggressive or antisocial behavior patterns, are at risk by young adulthood."