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Changes in parental attitudes toward attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder impairment over time

Changes in parental attitudes toward attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder impairment over time
Changes in parental attitudes toward attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder impairment over time
Background: over the last decades, the prevalence of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased. However, the underlying explanation for this increase remains unclear. We aimed to assess whether there has been a secular change in how parents perceive the impairment conferred by ADHD symptomatology.

Methods: data for this study were obtained from the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden, involving 27,240 individuals whose parents answered a questionnaire when the children were 9 years old. We assessed the relationship between parentally perceived impairment caused by ADHD symptoms scores over time. The analysis was performed separately for five different birth cohorts, spanning three-year periods from 1995 to 2009 and for ADHD inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity dimensions.

Results: we found a consistent upward trend of parents reporting impairment in relation to ADHD symptomatology across birth cohorts. Over a 12-year period, comparing those born 2007–2009 (assessed 2016–2018) with those born 1995–1997 (assessed 2004–2006), impairment scores increased by 27% at clinically relevant levels of ADHD symptomatology. Notably, when specifically evaluating the hyperactivity/impulsivity dimension, the disparity was even more striking, with an increase of up to 77%.

Conclusions: this study revealed a significant secular change in parental perception of impairment attributed to ADHD symptomatology over recent decades, providing new insights into the increased prevalence of ADHD. It underscores the need to better understand the factors that have contributed to the increased perception of impairment related to ADHD symptoms.
2692-9384
Garcia‐Argibay, Miguel
e5a6941e-4dcc-401a-9de4-09557c8856ef
Kuja‐Halkola, Ralf
e8335fa9-f245-49a8-9df4-ef31767cd3e8
Lundström, Sebastian
c0e400cd-a80a-4cc9-a303-21b49ddd8069
Lichtenstein, Paul
3851c18d-9114-4714-937d-d9a26b427774
Cortese, Samuele
53d4bf2c-4e0e-4c77-9385-218350560fdb
Larsson, Henrik
1d1c897c-ad54-4ffc-bf84-46b2a57f5bf4
Garcia‐Argibay, Miguel
e5a6941e-4dcc-401a-9de4-09557c8856ef
Kuja‐Halkola, Ralf
e8335fa9-f245-49a8-9df4-ef31767cd3e8
Lundström, Sebastian
c0e400cd-a80a-4cc9-a303-21b49ddd8069
Lichtenstein, Paul
3851c18d-9114-4714-937d-d9a26b427774
Cortese, Samuele
53d4bf2c-4e0e-4c77-9385-218350560fdb
Larsson, Henrik
1d1c897c-ad54-4ffc-bf84-46b2a57f5bf4

Garcia‐Argibay, Miguel, Kuja‐Halkola, Ralf, Lundström, Sebastian, Lichtenstein, Paul, Cortese, Samuele and Larsson, Henrik (2024) Changes in parental attitudes toward attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder impairment over time. JCPP advances, [e12238]. (doi:10.1002/jcv2.12238).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: over the last decades, the prevalence of Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased. However, the underlying explanation for this increase remains unclear. We aimed to assess whether there has been a secular change in how parents perceive the impairment conferred by ADHD symptomatology.

Methods: data for this study were obtained from the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden, involving 27,240 individuals whose parents answered a questionnaire when the children were 9 years old. We assessed the relationship between parentally perceived impairment caused by ADHD symptoms scores over time. The analysis was performed separately for five different birth cohorts, spanning three-year periods from 1995 to 2009 and for ADHD inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity dimensions.

Results: we found a consistent upward trend of parents reporting impairment in relation to ADHD symptomatology across birth cohorts. Over a 12-year period, comparing those born 2007–2009 (assessed 2016–2018) with those born 1995–1997 (assessed 2004–2006), impairment scores increased by 27% at clinically relevant levels of ADHD symptomatology. Notably, when specifically evaluating the hyperactivity/impulsivity dimension, the disparity was even more striking, with an increase of up to 77%.

Conclusions: this study revealed a significant secular change in parental perception of impairment attributed to ADHD symptomatology over recent decades, providing new insights into the increased prevalence of ADHD. It underscores the need to better understand the factors that have contributed to the increased perception of impairment related to ADHD symptoms.

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Accepted/In Press date: 20 March 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 April 2024

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 489964
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/489964
ISSN: 2692-9384
PURE UUID: 8cd01a44-bb25-4ed8-a42c-d654608b7563
ORCID for Miguel Garcia‐Argibay: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4811-2330
ORCID for Samuele Cortese: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5877-8075

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Date deposited: 08 May 2024 16:45
Last modified: 10 May 2024 02:07

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Contributors

Author: Miguel Garcia‐Argibay ORCID iD
Author: Ralf Kuja‐Halkola
Author: Sebastian Lundström
Author: Paul Lichtenstein
Author: Samuele Cortese ORCID iD
Author: Henrik Larsson

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