“When compared to adults without ADHD, adults with ADHD consistently complete fewer years of school, have lower levels of employment, earn lower salaries, change jobs more frequently, receive more negative ratings of work performance, have higher rates of marital discord (if not greater divorce rates), lower relationship satisfaction, higher risk for psychiatric and substance abuse problems, have higher rates of pessimism, lower life satisfaction, and are more likely to report impairment that interferes with keeping up with the demands of daily life”
“A consistent finding across studies is that adult ADHD has a negative impact on identity, satisfaction, life options, and self-esteem”
“Of adults with ADHD, 72% said their symptoms have had a lifelong impact and they were significantly more likely than controls to report workplace and relationship impairment.”
“Adults with ADHD were significantly more negative in their outlooks on life and had lower ratings of self-acceptance.”
“Adults with ADHD were less likely to be employed regardless of academic attainment and had lower household incomes than matched controls”
“In addition to lost income due to lower education attainment, ADHD is associated with lower levels of workplace performance”
“In a survey of US workers, ADHD emerged as a significant predictor of overall lost work performance. More specifically, ADHD was associated with 13.6 days of absenteeism (missed days of work) and 21.6 days of presenteeism (underperformance on the job), which totals 7 work weeks of lost productivity at an annual salary-equivalent loss of $5,661 per worker with ADHD. The projected impact on the US labor force is estimated to be 120.8 million lost workdays per year at a salary-equivalent cost of $19.6 billion.”
“Other longitudinal and cross-sectional studies have revealed similar patterns of lower academic and vocational achievement, more frequent job changes, poorer driving records, higher rates of divorce, higher healthcare costs (even when controlling for psychiatric care), and greater risk for developing substance abuse and psychiatric disorders among adults with ADHD, when compared with non-ADHD controls including preliminary findings of increased risk for suicide”
“Surveys of workers with ADHD indicate that they earn lower salaries, have lower work performance, and higher rates of conflict and disciplinary actions when compared with both clinical and community control groups”
“Moreover, adults with ADHD are more likely than controls to report being un- or underemployed or in the process of seeking work (regardless of academic attainment) in addition to being less productive on the job and having more frequent job changes”
“Laboratory studies of workplace behavior also reveal various difficulties encountered by workers with ADHD in managing the demands of an office. Adult ADHD also accounts for a significant percentage of individuals on leave from work due to “burnout” or disability”
“longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of adults with ADHD suggest a Adult ADHD pattern of poor health behaviors (e.g., nicotine use, substance use, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, etc.) that predicts various health risks later in life, including obesity. Regarding financial “health” and stability, adults with ADHD are less likely than controls to save money, have a retirement fund, and to resist impulse purchases, and were more likely to experience problems related to nonpayment of bills (e.g., utilities turned off)”
“A longitudinal study of children with ADHD followed into young adulthood revealed that adolescents with ADHD began having sex at an earlier age and were less likely to use contraception when compared with non-ADHD peers. Not surprisingly, the ADHD group had four times the rate of sexually transmitted disease and almost ten times the pregnancy rate by age 20 when compared with the non-ADHD group. There have been other studies documenting risky sexual behavior among young adults with ADHD.”
“There is also a solid foundation of research showing that automobile drivers with untreated ADHD exhibit poorer driving behaviors than do drivers without ADHD, based on reviews of personal driving records and performance on driving simulation tasks. The results indicate that ADHD drivers have a greater number of driver-caused accidents, and on average, these accidents are more severe, including physical injury. Drivers with ADHD also exhibit more unsafe driving behaviors (e.g., speeding) and incur moving violations more than non-ADHD drivers. Of note, the driving performance of ADHD drivers who have not taken their medication is equal to that of drivers who would be considered legally intoxicated”
From Chapter 1: Adult ADHD under the heading “Life Outcomes of Adults With ADHD” of the book “Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adult ADHD” by Ramsay and Rostain.
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