27% of homeless adults had ADHD, a 33-year prospective, controlled follow-up study showed.
“A 33-year prospective, controlled, follow-up of clinic-referred 6- to 12-year-old Caucasian boys with ADHD (probands; mean = 8), at mean age 41 (follow-up [FU] = 41).
Comparisons: children without ADHD from the same medical center were matched for age and socioeconomic status (SES).
Only 5% of adults and 8-10% of kids have ADHD.
There was a longer continuous period of homelessness for adults with ADHD vs. non-ADHD adults.
17.8 months vs 1.3 months.
The total duration of homelessness was massively longer in ADHD people: 22.9 months vs non ADHD people, only 1.8 months
The number of homeless periods was also longer for ADHD people. 2.8 vs 0.5 for non ADHD people.
59% of ADHD people while homeless stayed on the street or in shelters.
Only 33% of controls while homeless stayed on the street or in shelters.
This was not the first study on ADHD and homelessness.
Two studies of homelessness, both cross-sectional, have considered ADHD as a risk factor. A survey of 81 homeless veterans found a high rate of ongoing ADHD (62%).
The authors note that “none of the patients or their clinicians had considered ADHD a possible influence on their lives.”
Among 192 incarcerated women, homelessness during the previous year was significantly elevated among those who met scale criteria for childhood ADHD, established retrospectively by means of self-ratings on the Wender Utah Rating Scale.
Thus, neither of the investigations that report on ADHD among homeless individuals relied on diagnoses of ADHD obtained in childhood…
Table 1. Sample Characteristics at Follow-Up at Mean Age 41. Have a look at the massive difference in comparison to the different lifetime diagnoses for probands, people with ADHD vs. comparison.
This is why we should screen all children for ADHD, other mental health conditions and learning disabilities ( ADHD kids have higher rates of depression, anxiety disorders, ODD, Autism, learning disabilities, etc.) in grade 2 in all schools.
ADHD kids would accumulate fewer other mental health conditions & learning disabilities and homelessness, SUD and crime. Same with other MH conditions & LD. Would save taxpayers tens, if not hundreds, of billions.
No surprise, their hypothesis was correct. Kids with ADHD had much higher rates of homelessness as they grew up.
As we hypothesized, among this cohort of boys with ADHD, who were free of childhood conduct disorder at referral, ADHD substantially increased the risk of homelessness. The absence of conduct disorder when children were recruited is important because it might influence the likelihood of future homelessness, complicating knowledge of the role of ADHD per se. The association between childhood ADHD and homelessness remained statistically significant after adjusting for the development of conduct disorder, non-alcohol SUD, school dropout and having been arrested at FU18 (OR=3.60). This finding suggests that having ADHD in childhood was, in itself, a predictor of homelessness above and beyond multiple negative developments in adolescence.
Conclusion
Among Caucasian boys followed into adulthood, childhood ADHD was associated with an elevated rate of homelessness. Findings point to the need for clinical monitoring of childhood ADHD through adolescence, even when ADHD does not persist, in hopes of mitigating a cascade of malfunction that includes homelessness.
We should screen people at homeless shelters for ADHD, and we would already be doing so if there was another mental condition where 27% of people with that mental health condition had ADHD.
That’s more than 5 times higher than the population rate.
But becuase there is so much ignorance about ADHD, disinformation and stigma against ADHD and most doctors are not properly trained on diagnosing and treating ADHD, and very few people push back against the ignorance, disinformation, and stigma against ADHD, nothing gets done.
Please show your civic, provincial & state politicians this and other studies of homeless adults and kids with ADHD.
Please ask them to screen people in homeless shelters for ADHD, and if they screen positive for ADHD, get them a competent assessment of ADHD from someone properly trained on ADHD; many are not.
We have a civic AND a provincial election going on now in Vancouver where I live.
So I’m showing candidates the huge rates of homelessness, Substance Abuse Disorder and crime among people with ADHD; most are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, and telling them there are decades of research showing that IF we get properly diagnosed, we have lower rates of all 3.
43% of homeless teens 12-18 years old had indications of ADHD.
Moreover, limiting the meta-analysis to the seven studies with 1,538 participants that relied on clinical ADHD diagnoses, the gold standard, (including under 12 years old) resulted in an ADHD prevalence of 23%.
23.1% of all SUD subjects met DSM criteria for comorbid ADHD: meta-analysis.
Some studies have higher rates. 55% of crystal meth users in one study had ADHD, 70% in another.
Only 5% of adults have ADHD
Half of people arrested by UK’s London Metropolitan Police screened positive for ADHD, Cambridge University study with the Met police shows. 60% of those who were arrested for drugs, either were diagnosed with ADHD or screened positive for ADHD.
And asking them some questions:
If you are elected, would you screen people in Vancouver homeless shelters for ADHD, like they do in other places?
Would you screen people in Vancouver rehabs for ADHD?
Would you screen people arrested by the VPD for ADHD?
Would you ask the BC Government to require ALL doctors on BC to have #MandatoryCMECoursesOnADHD?
You can’t claim you’re fiscally conservative if you take action on ADHD. We ADHD people are very, very expensive to ignore, even if you don’t care about us as human beings.
I already have one MLA candidate, ex-Green Party leader and ex-MLA Andrew Weaver, who has committed, if he’s elected, to screen people at homeless shelters for ADHD.
I have 2 Vancouver mayoral candidates who have promised to screen people in Vancouver homeless shelters for ADHD.
Kareem Allam, leader of the Vancouver Liberals, who was on the board of the Vancouver Overdose Prevention Site, promised me after the Vancouver Dunbar debate that, if he were elected, he would screen people in Vancouver homeless shelters, rehabs, and safe consumption sites for ADHD.
Pete Frym, the leader of the VanGreens, promised me after the Vancouver Dunbar debate that, if he were elected, he would screen people in Vancouver homeless shelters and rehabs for ADHD.