Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder/learning disabilities (ADHD/LD): parental characterization and perception.

Brook U, Boaz M.

Department of Pediatrics, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 5, Holon 58100, Israel. brookuzo@post.tac.ac.il

Sixty-six parents of adolescents (mean age, 14.8 years), who attended special education classes and who were diagnosed as having attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder/learning disabilities (ADHD/LD), were interviewed. The comorbidity of the ADHD group included emotional lability and/or depression, 70%; oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), 67%; obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 44%; addiction to buying, 44%; and aggressiveness, 62%. Twenty-one percent were either involved in the past or presently using drugs. Nine percent had attempted suicide. According to their parents, the main characteristic of these adolescents was low self-image. Parents enumerated five negative characteristics: impulsiveness; nervousness; angered easily ('short fused'); aggressiveness with cursing and outbursts; and impaired sociability with impoliteness.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15797157&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_docsum