Environmental Factors as the Cause of ADHD Essay Assignment paper
Environmental Factors as the Cause of ADHD Essay Assignment paper
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects millions of children and adolescents worldwide, with a prevalence of approximately 5% in the general population (Schwarz, 2016). The symptomatology of ADHD includes an array of persistent problems, such as difficulties with attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour (Willoughby, 2003). The aetiology of ADHD is complex and under continuous investigation, with the growing consensus in the current body of research indicating a substantial interplay between environmental and genetic influences (Pingault et al., 2015). Research into the possible environmental contributors to the manifestation of ADHD has investigated various factors, including maternal smoking during pregnancy (He, Chen, Zhu, Hua, & Ke, 2017), socioeconomic disadvantage (Russell, Ford, Williams, & Russell, 2016), lead exposure (Hong et al., 2014) and premature birth (Sucksdorff et al., 2015). Research exploring the relationship between the prenatal environment and ADHD has also found associations between higher levels of prenatal testosterone (determined by measurement of 2D:4D ratio) and ADHD symptoms in boys (Eichler et al., 2018; Myers, van’t Westeinde, Kuja-Halkola, Tammimies, & Bölte, 2018). In this essay, the findings of the existing literature exploring ADHD and its environmental influences, as well as those of the literature exploring the genetic underpinnings of the disorder, will be assessed and a conclusion about the current state of the knowledge of the aetiology of ADHD and its future direction will be drawn.Environmental Factors as the Cause of ADHD
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Environmental Factors as the Cause of ADHD Essay Assignment paper
Despite the fact that there has been much research into the environmental influences on ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders, researchers have highlighted the problems with confounding variables in both environmental and gene-by-environment interaction studies (Keller, 2014), as well as the inconsistency of their findings (Polańska, Jurewicz, & Hanke, 2012). The review by Keller (2014) demonstrates that insufficient control of covariates and confounders is prevalent in this body of literature and in the context of the research into the environmental influences on ADHD, this is significant, as many of the previously mentioned environmental correlates of ADHD have shown associations with each other in past studies. Examples of this include associations between heavy smoking and low socioeconomic status (Hiscock, Bauld, Amos, Fidler, & Munafò, 2012), maternal smoking and premature birth (Dahlin, Gunnerbeck, Wikström, Cnattingius, & Edstedt Bonamy, 2016), low socioeconomic status and environmental exposure to lead (Benfer, 2017) and the association between prenatal testosterone levels and maternal smoking during gestation (Rizwan, Manning, & Brabin, 2007).
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