Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a neurobehavioral disorder characterized by a combination of inattentiveness, distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior.
AD/HD appears early in life. It is estimated that 3 percent to 7 percent of school-age children are diagnosed with AD/HD; boys are diagnosed more often than girls. Untreated AD/HD has been shown to have long-term adverse affects on academic performance, vocational success, and social-emotional development. AD/HD children have difficulty sitting still and paying attention in class and do not do well at school, even when they have normal or above-normal intelligence. They engage in a broad array of disruptive behaviors and experience peer rejection.
As they grow older, children with untreated AD/HD are more prone to drug abuse, antisocial behavior, and injuries of all sorts. More than half the children diagnosed with AD/HD continue to have symptoms during their adolescent years and into adulthood.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adult). Last reviewed 01/21/2008 Sources:
- American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision
- Barkley R.A. (2000). Taking Charge of AD/HD. New York: The Guilford Press, p. 21.
- Biederman J, Faraone SV, Keenan K, Knee D, Tsuang MF. (1990) Family-genetic and psychosocial risk factors in DSM-III attention deficit disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29(4): 526-533.
- Consensus Development Panel (CDP) (1982). Defined Diets and Childhood Hyperactivity. National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Summary, Volume 4(3).
- Faraone SV, Biederman J. (1998) Neurobiology of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 44, 951-958.
- Harvard Mental Health Letter (2002). Attention Deficit Disorder in Adults. Vol. 19:5, 3-6.
- The MTA Cooperative Group. A 14-month randomized clinical trial of treatment strategies for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) (1999). Archives of General Psychiatry, 56:1073-1086.
- National Institute of Mental Health (2006). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Bethesda (MD): National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/AD/HD.cfm#teen
- National Institutes of Health - National Library of Medicine - MedlinePlus, 2007. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001551.htm
- US Department of Justice (USDOJ) (2006). A Guide to Disability Rights Laws. Civil Rights Division: Disability Rights Section http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/cguide.htm#anchor62335
- U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. State Legislative Fact Sheet, April 2002.
- Wilens TC, Faraone, SV, Biederman J, Gunawardene S. (2003). Does stimulant therapy of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder beget later substance abuse? A meta-analytic review of the literature. Pediatrics, 111:1:179-185.
- Wilens TE, Biederman J, Spencer TJ. Attention (2002). deficit/hyperactivity disorder across the lifespan. Annual Review of Medicine, 53:113-131.