Myth: ADHD is caused by bad parenting Fact: Parents do not cause ADHD. The disorder comes from the accumulation of many environmental and genetic risk factors.

By Stephen V Faraone, PhD

The idea that parents cause ADHD arose ADHD runs in families. If one child has from the naïve observation that children ADHD, their brothers and sisters and with ADHD frequently misbehaved, along more likely to also have ADHD compared with the belief that misbehavior was a with the average child. sign of poor parenting. Twin Studies Although it is true that lax parenting can lead to misbehavior, there is no There have also been many twin studies evidence that lax parenting leads to of ADHD from Europe, the United States the inattention, hyperactivity and and Australia. There are two types of that define ADHD. twins. Identical twins are genetic copies of one another. They share 100 percent of The myth that bad parenting causes their genes. Fraternal twins are like ADHD also comes from the fact that when regular brothers and sisters. They only teach parenting skills to share 50 percent of their genes. parents, the behavior of the child improves. While this is true, it is also true All of the twin studies show that if one that teaching parenting skills does not twin has ADHD, the probability that the markedly improve the symptoms of other twin has ADHD is much greater if ADHD. the twins are identical. This is very strong evidence that genes are involved in Additionally, a very large body of causing ADHD. scientific studies has discovered the causes of ADHD symptoms Very recently, I worked with an international group of over 100 scientists  the genes we inherit from our and clinicians to study the genetic parents AND material (DNA) of 20,183 people  adverse environments to which we diagnosed with ADHD and 35,191 not are exposed. diagnosed with ADHD. When we We initially suspected genetic causes of compared these two groups, we found ADHD from the simple observation that convincing evidence that 12 areas of the

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human genome harbored risk genes for lead, pesticide, pollution), that can also ADHD. These data also proved that there increase the risk for ADHD. Like the were many more risk genes to discover. genetic risk factors, the environmental The total number is unknown but it could risks each, individually have a very small be in the thousands. The data also effect on the probability of developing showed us that each gene had only a ADHD. very small impact on the risk for In rare cases, ADHD can arrive from a ADHD. single cause. Examples are extreme The twin studies also proved that there environmental deprivation or large re- must be some environmental risk factors arrangements of the chromosomes. But I for ADHD. We know that because if one and other scientists who study ADHD identical twin has ADHD, the risk to the have concluded that most cases of co-twin is not 100 percent. Scientists have ADHD are due to the accumulation discovered many environmental risk and interaction of many genetic and factors for ADHD. Most of these risks environmental effects that change occur very early in the development of the the brain in a manner that leads to brain. For example, children who have the symptoms of ADHD. So, let’s not complicated births are at higher risk for blame parents for the ADHD in their ADHD, especially if the complication children. That simply does not square affects the flow of oxygen to the brain. with the facts. When children are exposed to toxins (e.g.,

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen Faraone, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of and & Physiology at SUNY Upstate Medical University, President of the World Federation of ADHD and Program Director for www.ADHDinAdults.com. His research studies of ADHD include epidemiology, neurobiology, and .

REFERENCES  https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/attention‐deficit‐hyperactivity‐disorder‐adhd.shtml  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15374410903103627  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787‐018‐1211‐3

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