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Is the Diagnosis of ADHD Influenced by Time of Entry to School? An Examination of Clinical, Familial, and Functional Correlates in Children at Early and Late Entry Points

  • Joseph Biederman
  • , Carter R. Petty
  • , Ronna Fried
  • , K. Yvonne Woodworth
  • , Stephen V. Faraone

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: The authors examined the proposed immaturity hypothesis, which suggests that younger children may have developmental immaturity and not ADHD, using data from a large, clinically referred population of individuals with and without ADHD. Method: The sample consisted of individuals with and without an ADHD diagnosis, ascertained from ongoing studies in our laboratory, born in August (Younger Cohort N = 562) and born in September (Older Cohort N = 529). The authors compared studywide diagnosis rates of ADHD, ADHD familiality patterns, ADHD symptoms, psychiatric comorbidity, and functional impairments between the two cohorts. Results: Studywide rates of ADHD diagnosis, ADHD-associated symptoms, ADHD-associated impairments, ADHD-associated comorbid disorders, and familiality were similar in the two age cohorts. Conclusion: Results showed that ADHD-associated familial, clinical, and functional correlates are similar irrespective of age at entry to school, indicating that when ADHD symptoms are present, a diagnosis of ADHD should be considered rather than attributing these symptoms to developmental immaturity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)179-185
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Attention Disorders
Volume18
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • developmental
  • educational

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