ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2011) — Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are two to three times more likely than children without the disorder to develop serious substance abuse problems in adolescence and adulthood, according to a study by UCLA psychologists and colleagues at the University of South Carolina.

"This greater risk for children with ADHD applies to boys and girls, it applies across race and ethnicity — the findings were very consistent," said Steve S. Lee, a UCLA assistant professor of psychology and lead author of the study. "The greater risk for developing significant substance problems in adolescence and adulthood applies across substances, including nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and other drugs."

Lee and his colleagues analyzed 27 long-term studies that followed approximately 4,100 children with ADHD and 6,800 children without the disorder into adolescence and young adulthood — in some cases for more than 10 years. These carefully designed, rigorous and lengthy studies, Lee said, are the "gold standard" in the field.

The research by Lee and his colleagues, the first large-scale comprehensive analysis on this issue, is published online this week in the journal Clinical Psychology Review and will appear in a print edition later this year.

The researchers combined all the published studies that met rigorous criteria and analyzed them together. They found that children with ADHD were at greater risk for serious problems such as addiction, abuse and trying to quit but being unable to, Lee said.

"any single study can be spurious," he said, "but our review of more than two dozen carefully designed studies provides a compelling analysis."

ADHD is common, occurring in approximately 5 percent to 10 percent of children in the U.S., and figures in many other industrialized countries with compulsory education are comparable, according to Lee.

Symptoms of the disorder are common in children and include being easily distracted, fidgeting, being unable to complete a single task and being easily bored. however, to receive a diagnosis of ADHD, a child must have at least six of nine symptoms of either hyperactivity or inattention, and the child’s behavior must be causing problems in his or her life. The vast majority of children with ADHD have at least six symptoms in both categories, Lee said.

In addition, the symptoms must have started before age seven, must be present in multiple settings — at home and school, for example — and must be adversely affecting functioning. They must not be explainable by any medical condition or any other mental disorder.

As children with ADHD enter adolescence and adulthood, they typically fall into three groups of roughly equal size, Lee said: one-third will have significant problems in school and socially; one-third will have moderate impairment; and one-third will do reasonably well or have only mild impairment.

Parents should monitor their children, said Lee, who noted that early intervention with a mental health professional is often helpful. A diagnosis of ADHD must be made by a mental health professional such as a child psychologist or psychiatrist and not by a parent or teacher.

Co-authors on the study are Kathryn Humphreys, a UCLA graduate student in clinical psychology; Kate Flory, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of South Carolina; Rebecca Liu, a UCLA undergraduate who worked in Lee’s laboratory; and Kerrie Glass, a graduate student in psychology at the University of South Carolina.

The research was federally funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of California – Los Angeles. The original article was written by Stuart Wolpert.

Journal Reference:

1. Steve S. Lee, Kathryn L. Humphreys, Kate Flory, Rebecca Liu, Kerrie Glass. Prospective Association of Childhood Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Substance use and Abuse/Dependence: A Meta-Analytic Review☆. Clinical Psychology Review, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2011.01.006

Note: if no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

I am curious as to what some of the symptoms are. I have quite a few friends that say they have one of these conditions but I'm not sure whether or not they are just saying it for attention or if they really have it.

ADD/ADHD refers to an inability to concentrate on the task at hand. People often fidget, daydream, etc instead of paying attention. The H (hyperactivity) is generally only used to describe children/teenagers, in which ADD often comes along with hyperactivity.

Bipolar disorder is one of the most misunderstood terms in psychiatry. It is not "mood swings" or "getting angry easily". It is all of the symptoms of depression, along with a mania: almost like being high amphetamines/cocaine, without the drugs. People in manic episodes often spend money recklessly, have sex haphazardly, sleep very little or not at all, talk way too fast, can't sit still, and generally think they can do anything. Episodes of mania last for weeks, and episodes of depression last for months or years. Bipolar disorder is generally a life-long illness — there are drugs that help, but it doesn't usually get cured or 'go away'. The disorder most commonly starts in the 20s. About 1% of people have (or will develop) bipolar disorder.

ADD stands for attention deficit disorder. It is a disorder that makes it difficult for the sufferer to pay attention. These are the type of people who may be smart, but don't do well in school because they have a hard time paying attention to the material. They tend to "zone out" and often need medication to stay on track.

ADHD stands of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is much the same as ADD except the sufferer has a difficulty paying attention due to their hyperactivity. My mother had a student in her class years ago that was ADHD and without his medication he was on top of his desk, running around the classroom, screaming at other students etc. when medicated it was the difference between night and day. He was cool, calm, and collected.

In a nutshell:
ADD=hard to pay attention
ADHD=hard to pay attention because of hyperactivity

Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder that causes extreme high and lows in a persons emotion. These people will go from being happy to angry and back in a matter of minuets. we all have these tendencies to jump around from emotion to emotion but the difference with being bipolar are the strengths from these fluctuations and how frequent they are. Think about it this way; a situation that would cause a normal person to be mad would cause a bipolar person to be extremely angry, hypothetically, of course.

Hope this helped.

ADHD and ADD people cannot concentrate very well. ADD may not have high activity levels. Many ADHD people are very sensitive to outward stimuli and could be though of as bipolar, since they can be calm for a little while and then irritable and very upset, if they happen to have food sensitivities.

Symptoms of ADD are that you can get really hyper and cant concentrate
on certain things. often people with ADD talk alot.

Symptoms of Bipolar are LOTS of different mood swings, or one moment
your really happy, and then when someone says something you might get really angry for no apparent reason.

Im not sure about the ADHD though