Married Teens May Be at Greater Risk of Having Children with ADHD
Published at(TURKU, Finland) — Here’s another reason for young people to postpone marriage until they at least reach their 20s: marrying in your teens might greatly increase the likelihood of having a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
In fact, researcher Roshan Chudal of the University of Turku, Finland says that even if one parent is younger than 20, the risk of childhood ADHD jumps by 50 percent.
The findings of Chudal’s study were based on examining data from 50,000 Finnish people.
Chudal explains that teens who get married are often the product of young parents, which may come with the genetic risk of ADHD, particularly if there is a history of family psychiatric problems.
What further boosts the risk of having this disorder characterized by lack of concentration and impulsive behavior are physical and environmental factors such as the mother’s social and economic status and whether she smoked during the pregnancy.
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