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PMID: 11104319 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Multicenter Study

Familial aggregation of ADHD characteristics.

Journal of abnormal child psychology ·Vol. 28 ·No. 6 ·2000-12-00 ·Pages 585-94

Epstein JN, Conners CK, Erhardt D, Arnold LE, Hechtman L, Hinshaw SP, Hoza B, Newcorn JH, Swanson JM, Vitiello B

Abstract

Patterns of familial aggregation of ADHD symptoms in parents of ADHD and non-ADHD children were examined. Within the ADHD sample, symptom aggregation was examined as a function of biological relationship, parent and child gender, and children's comorbid diagnoses. Participants consisted of parents of 579 children with ADHD, Combined Type participating in the multimodal treatment study of children with ADHD and parents of 288 normal control participants. Adult symptoms of ADHD were measured by both self-report and report of a significant other. Results indicated that the parents of children with ADHD had higher ratings of inattention/cognitive problems, hyperactivity/restlessness, impulsivity/emotional lability, and lower self-concept than parents of children without ADHD on both self-report and other-report ratings. Within the ADHD sample of children, other-report ratings of inattention/cognitive problems and impulsivity/emotional lability were higher for biological parents compared to nonbiological parents whereas self-ratings were not related to biological status. These findings support previous research documenting familial aggregation of ADHD and appear to strengthen the hypothesis that there is a genetic contribution to ADHD.

MeSH Terms
Adult Affect Analysis of Variance Attention Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/diagnosis,genetics,psychology Case-Control Studies Child Cognition Female Genetic Predisposition to Disease Humans Impulsive Behavior Male Parents/psychology Psychiatric Status Rating Scales/statistics & numerical data Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic Sampling Studies
Authors & Affiliations
10 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Epstein J N
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. [email protected]
Conners C K
Erhardt D
Arnold L E
Hechtman L
Hinshaw S P
Hoza B
Newcorn J H
Swanson J M
Vitiello B
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Article Info
Journal
Journal of abnormal child psychology
Abbr.
J Abnorm Child Psychol
ISSN
0091-0627
DOI
10.1023/a:1005187216138
Email
[email protected]
Published
2000-12-00
Pages
585-94
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0364547
Subset
IM
Corrections
CommentIn
PMID: 11104320
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1023/a:1005187216138
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