Spanish scientists from the University of Navarra, with the participation of British colleagues from the University of Southampton, examined the link between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and the tendency to violence in relationships. The article was published in the scientific journal magazine Psychological Medicine (PsyMed).
They concluded that the presence of this disorder significantly increases a person’s likelihood of both committing violence and being victimized. The study found that people with ADHD were about 2.5 times more likely to be violent towards their partners and 80% more likely to experience sexual or other intimate partner violence than people without ADHD.
The scientists’ conclusions are based on an analysis of 14 previous scientific papers examining the relationship between ADHD and violence. In total, the research covered more than 1.1 million people in five countries.
While scientists emphasized the importance of the study, they called for avoiding prejudices against people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
“Our results are of high clinical and social importance, but can be misinterpreted. We need to underline that, on the one hand, we present the relative risks of a rare event. Therefore, our findings should not be used to stigmatize people with ADHD, as most people with this disorder will not engage in intimate partner violence at all.” ”
The psychologists also explained that when ADHD is most active in the first half of life, most of the studies they analyzed examined the behavior of teenagers or older adolescents.
previous doctors I learnedADHD increases the risk of developing serious mental disorders.