Substance Use, Substance Abuse, and LD Among Adolescents with a Childhood History of ADHD
Year: 2001
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: A clinic-referred sample of 109 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was followed into adolescence for the ascertainment of alcohol and other drug use and abuse. Learning disability (reading or math) in childhood was examined as a predictor of adolescent substance use and substance use disorder for alcohol and marijuana. No statistically significant group differences for children with LD versus those without LD emerged even after using different methods to compute LD. IQ/achievement discrepancy scores were similarly not predictive of later use or abuse. However, children with ADHD who had higher IQs and higher levels of academic achievement in childhood were more likely to try cigarettes, to smoke daily, and to have their first drink of alcohol or first cigarette at an early age. Children with ADHD who had higher reading achievement scores were less likely to have later alcohol use disorder. Although these findings are necessarily preliminary, due to the small number of children interviewed, the pattern of results suggests that level of cognitive functioning--rather than discrepancy between IQ and achievement--is important for the prediction of later substance use and abuse, at least in this clinic-referred sample of children with ADHD. Further, different mechanisms of risk related to cognitive functioning may be operating for experimentation with legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, regular cigarette smoking, and problematic alcohol use.
Source: Journal of Learning Disabilities
Authors: Brooke S. G. Molina, William E. Pelham
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER, COGNITIVE MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS IN ADHD, Development of Alcohol Use and Abuse in ADHD Adolescents, G2329376157, METHYLPHENIDATE EFFECTS ADHD ADOLESCENTS, MULTIMODAL TREATMENT STUDY OF CHILDREN WITH ADHD, G3918970534, Drug Abuse Vulnerability: Mechanisms and Manifestations, G493982753, Validity of DSM-IV Subtypes of ADHD for Young Children, ADOLESCENT ALCOHOL ABUSE--BIOBEHAVIORAL MANIFESTATIONS, Development of Drug Use and Abuse in ADHD Adolescents, The Development of Alcohol Use and Abuse in ADHD Adolescents and Young Adults, The Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study: Predicting alcohol misuse, problems, and disorder in mid-adulthood, G8113769193, Hormonal Regulation of Ethanol Metabolism
OpenAlex ID: W2016566734