Reviewing and Reframing the Influence of Relative Age on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Diagnosis

• In Event: 77.057 - MTCC Roundtable Session 35
  In Roundtable Session: 77.057-12 - Critical Disability Studies and Intersectionality

Abstract

This paper provides a review of the evidence on the influence of relative age effect (RAE) on ADHD diagnosis. After finding a general trend for a positive association between relative age and the likelihood of ADHD diagnosis, we outline and discuss the suggested explanations of the phenomenon as depicted in the included studies. We then proceed to reframe the phenomenon as an outcome closely interlaced with current policies and practices employed in education. We argue that the link between RAE and ADHD diagnosis is not surprising. Instead, it fits to the description of a broader education discourse of policies and practices in the neoliberal era that individualize school-related concerns as being psychopathological, and normalize them through categories of difference.

Authors

• Athanasios Koutsoklenis

• Juho Honkasilta, University of Helsinki

• Kristiina Brunila, University of Helsinki