Diagnostic continuity between child and adolescent ADHD: findings from a longitudinal clinical sample.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether there are differences in the clinical expression and correlates of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) between children and adolescents.

METHOD

Subjects were 6- to 17-year old Caucasian, non-Hispanic boys with and without ADHD. DSM-III-R structured diagnostic interviews, psychometric measures, and blind raters assessed psychiatric diagnoses, intellectual performance, social disability, school failure, and family functioning.

RESULTS

Children and adolescents with ADHD had an almost identical pattern of correlates in multiple domains of assessment including psychosocial adversity and comorbidity with conduct, mood, and anxiety disorders. Although the rate of substance abuse differed in comparison between child and adolescent subjects, this was independent of ADHD status.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings document the diagnostic continuity of ADHD between childhood and adolescence and support the inclusion of adolescent samples in ADHD research protocols.