Reading this article, it looks like they don’t make any distinction about which came first, the ADHD diagnosis or the divorce. Especially since they included, and highlighted, divorces before the children were 8 years old.So, from this article, you could just as easily say that ‘Children whose parents divorce before they are 8 have a higher rate of ADHD”. Of course, both the legal divorce and the diagnosis are only rough chronological markers.  The divorce becomes final after anywhere from months to years of litigation, separation, and/or marital problems.

John Crouch

Couples with children with ADHD at risk of higher divorce rates, shorter
marriages

Parents of a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are
nearly twice as likely to divorce by the time the child is 8 years old than
parents of children without ADHD, the first study to look at this issue in
depth has shown.

Moreover, among couples in the study who were divorced, marriages involving
children with ADHD ended sooner than marriages with no ADHD-diagnosed
children.

Additional findings from a subset of divorced couples with children with
ADHD showed that several characteristics within the family contribute
individually to the risk of divorce: age of the child when diagnosed; race
and ethnicity of the parents; severity of coexisting disorders in children
with ADHD, such as oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder
(CD); education levels of the parents; and a father’s antisocial behavior
(trouble with the law.)

“We believe this is the first study to find that both parent and child
factors individually predict the rate and time of divorce,” said Professor
William Pelham, Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University at
Buffalo and director of UB’s Center for Children and Families.

“Moreover, this is the only study to demonstrate that the severity of the
child’s disruptive behavior, specifically those with ODD or CD, increases
the risk of divorce.

“Certainly we are not suggesting that having a child with ADHD is the only
reason these marriages end in divorce,” noted Pelham.

“Disruptive child behavior likely interacts over time with other existing
stress in the family to spark conflict in a marriage and, ultimately,
divorce.” Wymbs’ research documents that when parents interact with an ADHD
child, they are more distressed, argue with one another more and view one
another as less supportive, compared to when they interact with a child
without ADHD.

Data for the study was gathered from a subset of participants in a larger
investigation called the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS), which is
funded by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
(NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to Pelham and Brooke
Molina, Ph.D., from the University of Pittsburgh.

Some 282 adolescents and young adults who had been diagnosed with the
disorder in childhood and their parents completed a series of questionnaires
and diagnostic instruments, along with individual interviews. The child’s
birth date was used as the starting point of the time to divorce.

These results were compared with those from 206 demographically similar PALS
participants without ADHD and their parents.

Results showed that 22.7 percent of parents of children with ADHD had
divorced by the time the child was 8 years old, compared to 12.6 percent of
parents in the control group. Divorce rates of parents with and without
children with ADHD were not significantly different after children passed
the 8-year mark.

“Families that ’survive’ through that age, perhaps because they are low on
all of the risk factors, apparently will make it through the rest of the
child’s childhood,” Pelham said.

Of the characteristics that may contribute to risk of divorce, a father’s
antisocial behavior proved to be the largest factor. The rate of divorce
also increased when mothers had substantially less education than fathers;
children were diagnosed with ADHD at a younger age; families had racial or
ethnic minority children and children had serious ODD or CD behavior
problems.

“With these findings in mind,” Pelham said, “those who treat children with
ADHD and disruptive behavior problems should take note if parents are having
marriage problems and try to intervene to prevent the children from going
through the trauma of divorce.”

However, they also pointed out that for some couples who may have serious
and frequent marital conflict and are raising difficult-to-manage children,
divorce may be the best option for the children.

Results of the study appear in the October issue of the Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

http://www.virtualmedicalcentre.com/news.asp?artid=12786

(Source: University at Buffalo: Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology: October 2008.)