Rowland AS, et al. – The current study was expected to explore whether the prevalence of Attention–Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) varies by socioeconomic status (SES) and parental history of ADHD in a population–sample of elementary school children age 6–14 years. The findings suggested that socioeconomic status and parental history of ADHD are each strong risk factors for ADHD that interact to determine prevalence.

Methods

• For the purpose of this study, the researchers screened all children in grades 1–5 in seventeen schools in one North Carolina (U.S.) county for ADHD utilizing teacher rating scales and 1,160 parent interviews, including an ADHD structured interview (DISC).
• After that, parent and teacher ratings were combined to determine DSM-IV ADHD status.
• Data analysis was restricted to nine hundred sixty seven children with information about parental history of ADHD.
• Finally, SES was measured by family income and respondent education.

Results

• An interaction was found between family income and parental history of ADHD diagnosis (p = .016).
• It was observed in the findings that the SES gradient was stronger in families without a parental history and weaker among children with a parental history.
• It was noted that among children without a parental history of ADHD diagnosis, low income children had 6.2 times the odds of ADHD (95% CI 3.4–11.3) as high income children after adjusting for covariates.
• Among children with a parental history, all had over ten times the odds of ADHD as high income children without a parental history, however, the SES gradient between high and low income children was less pronounced [odds ratio (OR) = 1.4, 95% CI 0.6–3.5].