Attention Deficit / Hyperactive Disorder ( Adhd )

Introduction Attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) has become one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorders in children and adolescent. â€Å"ADHD is defined as a chronic condition marked by persistent inattention, hyperactivity, and sometimes impulsivity.† (Disney, 1999) There is concern about the possible connection between ADHD to substance use and abuse, during childhood and adolescence, since it is such an important developmental stage in life. â€Å"Substance abuse disorder is defined as a physical dependence, abuse of, and withdrawal from drugs and other substances.† (Biederman, 1999) The prevalence of substance use and substance abuse in recent years is a cause for concern and has been a matter of public and scientific†¦show more content†¦According to Molina, substance abuse as an adult and how it is directly related to hyperactivity throughout childhood and adolescence is a topic that there is little literature studies. (2003) Reasoning behind the lack of information may be because it is harder to find participants to be involved in a study from time of childhood to time of adulthood. An additional problem with these studies is these studies are biased. Many of these studies exclude females or they sampled few to many to analyze them in the whole. There were also too many small samples studied. Sampling few subjects could generate unreliable information, and could lead to faulty results. There were problems in measurement in some studies like not specifying certain criteria, and using nonstandard or untested methods. There has been substantial growth in the amount of detainees over the years, especially those with psychiatric disorders such as ADHD and substance abuse disorder. According to Teplin, the comorbidity of the two give reason to believe that ADHD is a possible predictor of substance abuse issues. (2002) Studies of hyperactive children have reported that the association between ADHD and substance use disorders appear to be almost entirely based on conduct disorder. Conduct disorder leads to hospitalized or jailed adolescents. There has been recent research on the medication for ADHD and if medication can in turn