Since attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, became a disease back in the late 1980’s, it’s become one of the most diagnosed, yet least understood, of childhood behavioral disorders.  Basically, kids with ADHD have poor impulse control, have trouble paying attention, and are prone to acting out.  For a lot of people, out-of-control kids means bad parenting, but it’s not necessarily the parent’s fault.  According to a study in The Lancet, ADHD has a genetic link; kids with ADHD are more likely to have missing or duplicated chromosomes.

“We hope that these findings will help overcome the stigma associated with ADHD,” said study lead author and professor Anita Thapar.  “Too often, people dismiss ADHD as being down to bad parenting or poor diet.  As a clinician, it was clear to me that this was unlikely to be the case.  Now we can say with confidence that ADHD is a genetic disease and that the brains of children with this condition develop differently to those of other children.”

Of course, there are nutritional and environmental causes, but those might also cause chromosomal damage, as exposure to pesticides might.  And, of course, there’s just that generational inability to focus brought about by gadgets and quick-cut editing in TV and movies.

Tags: ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADD, hyperactivity, weird science, genetics, ADHD and genetics, Cardiff University, Anita Thapar, The Lancet, DNA, ADHD caused by missing chromosomes, genetic defects cause ADHD

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