The book provides a comprehensive summary of the best known and most highly respected well-controlled long-term prospective follow-up studies in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These studies followed children with ADHD and matched controls into young adulthood (mean age 20–25 years) and middle age (mean age 41 years). They explore a wide variety of clinically relevant outcome areas, such as education, occupation, emotional and psychiatric functioning, substance use and abuse, sexual behavior, and legal problems. One chapter focuses particularly on the outcome of girls with ADHD. The book also explores possible predictors of adult outcome. A whole chapter is devoted to treatment (medication and psychosocial) as a predictor of outcome. In addition to treatment, predictors explored include characteristics of the child (e.g., IQ, severity of initial ADHD symptoms, initial comorbidity) and characteristics of the family (e.g., socioeconomic status, single parenthood, parental pathology, and family functioning). A summary chapter explores the impact and importance of these predictors in various outcome areas, such as education, occupation, emotional/social functioning, antisocial behavior, substance use and abuse, and risky sexual and driving behaviors. Professionals and the general public will come away with a clear view of what can happen to children with ADHD as they proceed through adolescence and adulthood. The book also addresses important prognostic and predictive factors in treatment approaches to ensure better long-term outcome in patients with ADHD.
Prospective Effects of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Sex on Adolescent Substance Use and Abuse