NCJ Number
57339
Journal
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Volume: 153 Issue: 4 Dated: (OCTOBER 1971) Pages: 273-279
Date Published
1971
Length
7 pages
Annotation
TO DETERMINE THE OUTCOME OF HYPERACTIVITY, RESEARCHERS STUDIED THE CASES OF 83 CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 12 AND 15 WHO HAD BEEN DIAGNOSED AS HAVING THE HYPERACTIVITY SYNDROME 2 TO 5 YEARS EARLIER.
Abstract
PREVIOUS STUDIES INDICATED THAT HYPERACTIVITY IN CHILDREN WANES AS THEY GROW OLDER. TO INVESTIGATE THE EXACT OUTCOME OF HYPERACTIVITY IN THE SUBJECTS, RESEARCHERS COLLECTED DATA FROM HOSPITAL RECORDS AND PARENT INTERVIEWS ON CHILDREN REFERRED TO THE ST. LOUIS, MO., CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL PSYCHIATRY CLINIC. DATA ON SUBJECTS' OVERALL IMPROVEMENT, SPECIFIC SYMPTOMS, ANTISOCIAL ACTIVITIES, SCHOOL RECORDS, FAMILY HISTORY, TREATMENT, AND AGE AT FIRST PRESENTATION TO THE CLINIC, REVEAL THAT THESE CHILDREN ARE GENERALLY BEHAVING IN A MORE NORMAL WAY BY THE TIME THEY ENTER THEIR TEENS. THEY ARE LESS ACTIVE, DISTRACTED, IMPULSIVE, AND EXCITABLE THEN THEY WERE IN GRADE SCHOOL, THOUGH THESE SYMPTOMS PERSIST. HOWEVER, THE SUBJECTS CONTINUED TO BE DISOBEDIENT AND REBELLIOUS AT HOME AND SCHOOL, AND WERE STILL EXPERIENCING SERIOUS DIFFICULTIES WITH THEIR SCHOOLWORK. A SIGNIFICANT MINORITY WERE INVOLVED IN ENOUGH ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR TO MAKE THEIR FUTURE APPEAR UNPROMISING. A HIGH PROPORTION OF THE SUBJECTS DISPLAYED CHRONIC LOW SELF-ESTEEM; IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE COMPLICATION OF LOW SELF-ESTEEM AND DEFEATISM MIGHT OUTLAST THE ORIGINAL PROBLEMS OF OVERACTIVITY AND DISTRACTIBILITY AND THEREFORE HAVE A CRUCIAL EFFECT ON PROGNOSIS. SOME OF THE NORMS ESTABLISHED IN STUDIES AS SYMPTOMS IN HYPERACTIVE CHILDREN INCLUDE IMPATIENCE, IRRITABILITY, DEFIANT ATTITUDES, 'IMPULSIVE-DESTRUCTIVE' CHARACTER DISORDER, AS WELL AS EARLY AND FREQUENT OCCURRENCES OF LAWBREAKING, ALCOHOLISM, AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR. TABULAR DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (DAG)