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ADHD Symptoms Stable During Transition into Adulthood With Complex Impacts on Life Success
Symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are generally stable throughout the transition from emerging adulthood to early mid-adulthood, according to a study published in the Journal of Attention Disorders.
The study, which followed 320 college students in Canada over a subsequent 15 years, also found the 2 core ADHD symptom dimensions had different effects on indicators of life success by early mid-adulthood.
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“Our analyses showed that individuals who were in poor quality relationships or were precariously employed in early middle adulthood had higher inattention symptoms in emerging adulthood, but not different hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms,” wrote corresponding author James D. A. Parker, PhD, of the Trent University Department of Psychology in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, and study coauthors.
Participants in the study were assessed for ADHD symptoms using the Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale at baseline and again 15 years later. At the second assessment, they also completed measures of life success, which considered relationship satisfaction, career satisfaction, and stress levels.
Latent variable models linked higher levels of inattention in emerging adulthood with lower satisfaction in both relationship and career in early mid-adulthood, according to the study. However, higher levels of hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms were associated with the opposite: higher relationship satisfaction and career satisfaction in early mid-adulthood.
“Taken together, this pattern of findings suggests that while greater inattention symptoms consistently predict negative life outcomes in middle adulthood, the story for hyperactivity-impulsivity is much more complex,” researchers wrote. “In particular, our findings indicate that hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms experienced early in adulthood, may not be harmful, and potentially beneficial for relationship and career satisfaction later in adulthood.”
Analyses found strong stability of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms across the 15-year period for both men and women.
“ADHD symptomatology can be conceptualized as a stable, dimensional trait across adulthood, with important impacts on life success,” researchers concluded.
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