Adult ADHD: Prevalence, Social Predictors, and Patterns in Treatment Use

• In Event: 20820 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 1. (De)Medicalization Processes

Abstract

This study examines the prevalence of adult ADHD in the United States, as well as the predictors and consequences of adulthood diagnosis. Using data from the National Center for Health Statistics’s Rapid Survey System, it addresses four aims: (1) estimating the current national prevalence of adult ADHD, (2) assessing the influence of sociodemographic factors in age at time of ADHD diagnosis, (3) exploring the role of online engagement in ADHD diagnosis, and (4) examining differences in therapeutic care between childhood and adulthood diagnosis. The results of this study suggest that the prevalence of adult ADHD now exceeds 6 percent and that increasing ADHD rates may be partially attributed to decreasing diagnostic disparities. Results also reveal differential use of therapeutic treatment between individuals diagnosed with ADHD in childhood and those diagnosed in adulthood. These findings support the theory that distinct medicalization processes drive childhood versus adulthood ADHD diagnoses and expand classic theories of medicalization by clarifying how sociodemographic factors and online engagement shape entry into and management of ADHD.

Author

• Laura Sills, University at Buffalo (SUNY)