Parents of ADHD kids have higher divorce

BUFFALO, N.Y., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Parents of a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are nearly twice as likely to divorce by the time the child is eight years old, a study found.

Senior author William E. Pelham, Jr. of the University at Buffalo and first author Brian T. Wymbs, completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, found that when parents interact with an ADHD child, they are more distressed, argue with one another more, and view one another as less supportive, compared to when they interact with a child without ADHD.

The study involved some 282 adolescents and young adults who had been diagnosed with ADHD in childhood and their parents completed a series of questionnaires and diagnostic instruments, along with individual interviews and compared the results with 206 demographically similar subjects without ADHD and their parents.

The study showed that 22.7 percent of parents of children with ADHD had divorced by the time the child was eight years old, compared to 12.6 percent of parents in the control group. Divorce rates of parents with and without children with ADHD were not significantly different after children passed the eight-year mark.