[Risk factors in families of children with disorder attention deficit/hyperactivity: Quebec data].

INTRODUCTION

This paper focuses on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and links with other disorders in the child and his/her parents. Adversity factors are presented around the family life and their impact on ADHD. Families who have a child with ADHD are compared to families who do not.

METHOD: The parents in 82 families filled in the QFR-ADHD questionnaire: 24 children without ADHD (control group) and 58 children with ADHD (ADHD group). The children were between 5 and 21 years of age (average age: 10 years) with an average education of 1 to 14 years (average: 4th year of elementary school). The subjects were distributed as follows: 9 boys and 15 girls (control group), and 48 boys and 10 girls (TDA/H group).

RESULTS

Oppositional disorder (OD), conduct disorders (CD) and learning disabilities (LD) were significantly more frequent in the ADHD group than in the control group. We found that the mothers of children with ADHD take more selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors than the mothers of children in the control group. This implies that the former experience depressive symptoms. Fathers of children with ADHD had more learning disabilities than the fathers in the control group.

CONCLUSION

This research is in line with work on the etiology of ADHD. Investigation of the causes for ADHD is complex, as the disorder has both physical and psychological aspects.