Could 1 in 5 boys have ADHD? And why?
Alarming figures for ADHD in the United States were published over the weekend. They suggest that as many as one in five high school age boys have been diagnosed as suffering from “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”, while 11 percent of all school-age children have received such a diagnosis. That’s around 6.4 million children, representing a 53 percent rise in the past decade, reports the New York Times.
I have always been sceptical about the medicalisation of what seems to be fairly common childhood behaviour — fidgetiness that annoys adults. Admittedly, there also seems to be something new in the sheer number of kids who are extremely hyperactive today. Even experts in the field are amazed at the new figures:
“Those are astronomical numbers. I’m floored,” said Dr. William Graf, a pediatric neurologist in New Haven and a professor at the Yale School of Medicine. He added, “Mild symptoms are being diagnosed so readily, which goes well beyond the disorder and beyond the zone of ambiguity to pure enhancement of children who are otherwise healthy.”
[Skipping down to the bottom]:
But there is another possible factor in this, and it is mentioned in passing by the doctor interviewed in a video with the NYTimes report: “single parent homes”, or, more precisely, homes without a dad, which we know are very common now. The geographical distribution of ADHD in the US tends to underscore this, with a concentration in the Southern states, for example, where single parenthood is widespread, especially among the Black and poor population. Further, the Times reports that some of the highest rates of diagnosis of ADHD occur among children whose parents are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.
Single, poor struggling moms, boys without the security, firmness and mateship of a dad… sounds like a recipe for behavioural problems to me, and one that doctors and drugs will never solve.