The Lifelong Effects of ADHD on Personal Development

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a condition which causes them to have difficulty controlling their behavior and paying attention. Other problem areas are oppositional behavior toward adults and academic failure. These children face many more difficulties in early development than children without the disorder because they face crises with peers, trouble with their education, and tension and frustration in the home environment.

Regarding crises with peers, studies have shown that children that have ADHD had distorted perceptions of their own peer acceptance and rejection, social preferences and social impact. Many children who thought they were well-liked were in fact disliked by “normal” children for reasons directly related to the disorder, such as aggression and hyperactivity. Children with ADHD struggle during their years of education because of their behavior problems which are displayed in front of their peers and teachers.

Research shows that children who are diagnosed with ADHD have a significantly increased risk of becoming substance dependent in adolescence. Many of the characteristic traits and behavior issues of individuals with ADHD contributed to reliance on tobacco, alcohol and illegal substances.

Children with ADHD were also prone to holding inflated positive self perceptions in comparison to others. They are believed to inflate their perception of themselves most in areas which they are lacking due to their disorder. This is problematic for these individuals because they form a false sense of the way others see them and do not function appropriately in social situations.

One of the major problems that children diagnosed with ADHD face is forming healthy relationships with others. It is common for these children to find themselves rejected by others due to the difficult nature of the child’s personality. Usually, the child’s lack of solid relationships with peers is the cause of adults’ frustration in dealing with them. Often, if the child had at least one true friend, some of the areas that he finds difficulty in would be lessened because he had someone that he could rely on and trust.

Results of many past studies show that other children do not find ADHD children as potential companions (Hoza, Mrug, Gerdes, Hinshaw, Bukowski, Gold, Kraemer, Pelham, Wigal, & Arnold, 2005). They tend to seek out children as friends who are mostly easy going. Peers more often associated hyperactive children with “bad kids”, rather than “good kids” (Hoza, Mrug, Gerdes, Hinshaw, Bukowski, Gold, Kraemer, Pelham, Wigal, & Arnold, 2005). Factors such as the inability to pay attention and focus is strongly correlated with factors such as poor academic achievement and peer difficulties (Molina & Pelham, 2003).

Another commonality for children with ADHD is their inability to control their emotions and behavior and the problems that result. ADHD in children causes them to vent their frustrations and anger in more public and external ways than children without the disorder. These children are extremely impulsive and what they don’t realize is that acting out in inappropriate ways causes them to be rejected and shunned by others who do not understand their reasons for acting out. Aggressive boys that have ADHD tend to inflate their self perception the most in the social and behavioral domains (Hoza, Gerdes, Hinshaw, Arnold, Pelham, Molina, Abikoff, Eptstein, Greenhill, Hechtman, Odbert, Swanson, & Wigal, 2004). The reason that they inflate their self perception is because their outright aggression actually causes people to dislike them but the person with ADHD doesn’t realize that it’s a problem and sees himself as normal, leading him to think that others like him. This is just one problem that arises because of behavior problem. Another serious issue is that many children with ADHD will grow into substance abusing adolescents and this is partly due to the fact that their behavior leads to social developmental problems. Early expressions of antisocial behavior, such as aggression and other conduct problems in childhood, are well-established prospective predictors of early substance use (Molina & Pelham, 2003).

Other commonalities between individuals with ADHD exist in the way that they cope and deal with stress. ADHD children are much more at risk of developing dependencies on substances as adolescents and adults than children without ADHD. ADHD adolescents were three times more likely to have used at least one hard drug at some point in their life, than normal adolescents (Molina & Pelham, 2003). Polysubstance use, the use of more than one drug at a time, is a higher risk in those with ADHD (Molina & Pelham, 2003). Often the frustrations of growing up with ADHD leads these individuals to release their stress in this unhealthy way.

Another risk for children growing up with ADHD is that due to their tendency to be rejected by friends, they may find their way of coping in becoming friends with the first person who ever shows interest in knowing them. This typically leads children with ADHD into peer groups which are not necessarily safe and healthy. It is possible that as these children are discouraged in their attempts to become friends with more “popular” peers, they will gravitate toward anyone willing to accept them ( Hoza, Mrug, Gerdes, Hinshaw, Bukowski, Gold, Kraemer, Pelham, Wigal, & Arnold, 2005).

Research should continue on the way that ADHD affects children’s social development. Although conclusions were drawn, changes will take place over time as teachers and parents become more educated in their methods of controlling these problematic behaviors. Perhaps once these children learn more healthy methods of releasing frustration and anger and ways to stay focused for longer periods of time, they will become more appealing as potential friends to other children.

It is important that for the next study on this topic, children are not confused as to what they are asked to do. They should be asked short, specific questions about their peers with ADHD so that the results will be more accurate. The method and results of the study related to ADHD and adolescent substance use was fairly straightforward and clear. The participants were consistent and since this was a longitudinal study, there is not question as to whether or not the results are accurate. They simply followed these individuals into their adolescence to determine whether their ADHD had increased their risk of using substances, more than individuals without ADHD. For future studies, it would be beneficial to follow a larger sample group. This way, there would be much more representational data. However, longitudinal studies are difficult to complete because some people cannot be located after so much time has passed. The results for this study showed strong correlations between the child’s ADHD symptoms and later substance use. This data shows that the study is very reliable and later studies would be beneficial to discover whether positive changes are occurring for children diagnosed early with ADHD. Further research would also be beneficial regarding the study on children with ADHD who have inflated self perceptions. These explanations help others to understand why these children act the way they do in public and with their peers. As attempts are made in the future at controlling problematic social and behavioral problems, perhaps these children will be more accepted by their peers and will no longer need to inflate their self perception because the way they feel about how others seem them will become more accurate. For any future studies, it would help to include more sections of the self perception profile so that there would be more data to conclude

References

Hoza, B., Gerdes, A., Hinshaw, S., Arnold, L., Pelham, W., Molina, B., Abikoff, H., Epstein, J., Greenhill, J., Hechtman, L., Odbert, C., Swanson, J., & Wigal, T. (2004). Self-perecptions of competence in children with ADHD and comparison children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 382-391. Retrieved October 10, 2005, from [https://library.unt.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&an=ccp723382&scope=site].

Hoza, B., Mrug, S., Gerdes, A., Hinshaw, S., Bukowski, M., Gold, J., Kraemer, H., Pelham, W., Wigal, T., & Arnold, L. (2005). What aspects of peer relationships are impaired in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder?. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 411-423. Retrieved October 9, 2005, from [https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&an=ccp733411&scope=site].

Molina, B., Pelham, W. (2003). Childhood predictors of adolescent substance use in a longitudinal study of children with ADHD. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 497-507. Retrieved October 10, 2005, from [https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&an=abn1123497&scope=site].

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Source by Kristen Zadina