Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

Whilst searching for papers for ADHD and Sex I found this study: Differences in heterosocial behavior and outcomes of ADHD-symptomatic subtypes in a college sample.

The study looked at three groups of around 20 individuals of college age. One was a group of non-ADHD controls. The second group were ADHD Combined type (ADHD/C) and the last group ADHD Primarily Inattentive (ADHD/IA). (See ADD or ADHD for more on the different types of ADHD). The ADHD/C group had higher sex drive and early dating experience compared to the control group where as the ADHD/IA had a consistent pattern of passivity and inexperience and was perceived relatively negatively by female confederates.

This is interesting because studies of ADHD adults found: ADHD adults started having sex a year earlier; about a third dropped out of high school, compared with none of the control group; 1 out of 3 had become parents by their early 20s vs. 1 in 25 of the controls. (ADHD Problems Continue Into Adulthood). The two studies suggest that the ‘cool’ kids in school, those that rebel, adopt high risk behaviour (drug taking etc) and become sexually active earlier, are ADHDers with the combined type. Whereas the geeky kids who are seen negatively by their peers and are late developers are more likely to be inattentive type.

That ADHD plays a role in these two significant social groups in college, the rebels and the geeks, raise interesting questions about what ADHD is. How much of this behaviour can we put down to personality type and how much is a neurological problem?