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The relationship between financial difficulty and childhood symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a UK longitudinal cohort study.

ABSTRACT: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with socioeconomic status (SES), in that children who grow up in low SES families are at an increased risk of ADHD symptoms and diagnosis. The current study explores whether different levels of ADHD symptoms are associated with prior changes in the SES facet of financial difficulty.Using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we examined symptoms of ADHD measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) hyperactivity subscale in relation to parent-reported changes in financial difficulty, grouped into four repeated measures at four time points across childhood; (n?=?6416). A multilevel mixed-effects linear regression model with an unstructured covariance matrix was used to test whether different patterns of financial difficulty were associated with subsequent changes in ADHD symptoms.Families who had no financial difficulty had children with a lower average ADHD symptom score than groups who experienced financial difficulty. Children whose families stayed in financial difficulty had higher mean ADHD symptom scores than all other groups (No difficulty mean SDQ hyperactivity 3.14, 95% CI 3.07, 3.21, In difficulty mean SDQ hyperactivity 3.39, 95% CI 3.28, 3.45, p?

SUBMITTER: Russell AE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5846873 | biostudies-other | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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The relationship between financial difficulty and childhood symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a UK longitudinal cohort study.

Russell Abigail Emma AE Ford Tamsin T Russell Ginny G

Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology 20171109 1

<h4>Purpose</h4>Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with socioeconomic status (SES), in that children who grow up in low SES families are at an increased risk of ADHD symptoms and diagnosis. The current study explores whether different levels of ADHD symptoms are associated with prior changes in the SES facet of financial difficulty.<h4>Methods</h4>Using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we examined symptoms of ADHD measured by the Strengths ...[more]

PMID: 29124294

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Project description:BackgroundChildren with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have co-occurring symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or anxiety. It is unclear whether these disorders arise from shared or distinct developmental pathways. We explored this question by testing the specificity of early-life (infant and toddler) predictors of mid-childhood ADHD and anxiety symptoms compared to ASD symptoms.MethodsInfants (n = 104) at high and low familial risk for ASD took part in research assessments at 7, 14, 24 and 38 months, and 7 years of age. Symptoms of ASD, ADHD and anxiety were measured by parent report at age 7. Activity levels and inhibitory control, also measured by parent report, in infancy and toddlerhood were used as early-life predictors of ADHD symptoms. Fearfulness and shyness measured in infancy and toddlerhood were used as early-life predictors of anxiety symptoms. Correlations and path analysis models tested associations between early-life predictors and mid-childhood ADHD and anxiety symptoms compared to mid-childhood ASD symptoms, and the influence of controlling for ASD symptoms on those associations.ResultsIncreased activity levels and poor inhibitory control were correlated with ADHD symptoms and not ASD or anxiety; these associations were unchanged in path models controlling for risk-group and ASD symptoms. Increased fearfulness and shyness were correlated with anxiety symptoms, but also ASD symptoms. When controlling for risk-group in path analysis, the association between shyness and anxiety became nonsignificant, and when further controlling for ASD symptoms the association between fearfulness and anxiety became marginal.ConclusionsThe specificity of early-life predictors to ADHD symptoms suggests early developmental pathways to ADHD might be distinct from ASD. The overlap in early-life predictors of anxiety and ASD suggests that these disorders are difficult to differentiate early in life, which could reflect the presence of common developmental pathways or convergence in early behavioural manifestations of these disorders.

Project description:BackgroundFor the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) proposes that adherence to six symptoms in either group (inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity) will lead to the diagnosis of one of three presentations of the disorder. Underlying this diagnostic algorithm is the assumption that the 18 symptoms have equal relevance for the diagnosis of ADHD, all are equally severe, and all have the same power to detect the presence of the disorder in all its degrees of severity, without considering the possibility of using marker symptoms. However, several studies have suggested that ADHD symptoms differ in both their power to discriminate the presence of the disorder and the degree of severity they represent. The aim of the present study was to replicate the results of previous research by evaluating the discriminative capacity and relative severity of ADHD symptoms, as well as to extend the investigation of this topic to Spanish-speaking Latin American samples.MethodsThe properties of ADHD symptoms rated by the parents of 474 Chilean children were analyzed. Symptom parameters were estimated using the graded response model.ResultsThe results suggest that symptoms of ADHD differ substantially in both the accuracy with which they reflect the presence of the disorder, and their relative severity. Symptoms "easily distracted by extraneous stimuli" and "have difficulty sustaining attention in tasks" (inattention) and "is on the go, acting as if driven by motor" (hyperactivity/impulsivity) were the most informative, and those with relatively lower severity thresholds.DiscussionThe fact that symptoms differ substantially in the probability of being observed conditionally to the trait level suggests the need to refine the diagnostic process by weighting the severity of the symptom, and even to assess the possibility of defining ADHD marker symptoms, as has been done in other disorders.

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The relationship between financial difficulty and childhood symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a UK longitudinal cohort study.

Publications

The relationship between financial difficulty and childhood symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a UK longitudinal cohort study.

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