February 26, 2021
A Dutch and German team compared the performance of 45 adults with ADHD and 51 normally developing controls on a battery of standardized tests and questionnaires designed to assess competence in financial decision-making (FDM). These were supplemented with neuropsychological tests, as well as evaluations of each participant’s personal financial situation.
The two groups had roughly comparable demographic characteristics. There were no significant differences in age, gender balance, years of education, or work status. Students were excluded from both groups because they tend to be financially dependent and to have little or no income.
The ADHD group scored more than three times higher on self-report questionnaires for both the retrospective assessment of childhood symptoms ( Wender Utah Rating Scale—Childhood) and for evaluating current symptoms of ADHD (ADHD self-report scale). Researchers did not perform clinical evaluations of ADHD.
To determine their personal financial situation, participants were asked about their income range as well as, “Do you have debts other than mortgage or study loans?”;“Do you receive social security?”; “Do you have a savings account?”;“Do you save actively, that is, do you put money in your savings account on a regular basis?”; “Do you save for retirement?”; and “Do you own a house?” They were also asked how much they set aside in monthly savings, and, where applicable, how much they receive in social security.
On five out of nine criteria, significant differences emerged between the two groups. Whereas healthy controls had median incomes in the range of €35,000 to €45,000, for those with ADHD it was dramatically lower, between €15,000 and €25,000. Healthy controls also had twice as much disposable income. Whereas almost half of adults with ADHD reported debts other than mortgage or educational loans, only a third as many healthy adults had such debt. And whereas only slightly over half of those with ADHD reported having savings accounts, among healthy adults it was more than six out of seven. Finally, healthy controls were four times as likely to own a home.
Participants were then given standardized tests to evaluate financial competence, financial decision-making capacity, financial decision styles, the ability to make financial decisions using decision rules, the capacity to make decisions with implications for the future, impulsive buying tendencies, and a gambling task as a measure of emotional decision-making.
Adults with ADHD scored significantly lower than healthy adults on the financial competence test, and in particular, on financial abilities, financial judgment, financial management, and financial support resources. Similar outcomes emerged from the financial decision-making capacity test, especially when it came to identifying and understanding relevant information. Adults with ADHD were also significantly more likely to use avoidant and spontaneous decision styles. They also showed significantly more temporal discounting, meaning they tended to prefer immediate gratification over long-term financial security. That translated into significantly higher propensities to buy on impulse. In all cases these differences had large effect sizes.
Finally, participants were tested on nine cognitive functions: information processing speed, vigilance and selective attention, inhibition, interference, figural fluency, cognitive flexibility, task switching, verbal working memory, and numeracy.
Those with ADHD performed significantly worse, with medium effect sizes, on three cognitive measures: vigilance, interference, and numeracy. There were no significant differences on the other six measures.
The authors concluded, “The results show that the personal financial situation of adults with ADHD was less optimal than the financial situation of healthy controls. Furthermore, adults with ADHD showed significantly decreased performances compared with healthy controls in five out of seven tasks measuring FDM and on measures of vigilance, interference, and numeracy. However, mediation analyses indicated that differences in cognitive functioning cannot fully explain the differences with regard to FDM between adults with ADHD and healthy controls.”
They also pointed to limitations of the study. One is that 19 of the 45 adults with ADHD had comorbid disorders, of which three were substance dependencies. However, removing them had little effect on the outcome. Another limitation was that adults with ADHD were off medication during the testing, so it is unclear how stimulants would affect the test outcomes. The authors state, “The influence of treatment use should, therefore, be explored in future research on FDM and adults with ADHD.”
Dorien F. Bangma, et al., “Financial Decision-Making in Adults With ADHD,” Neuropsychology (2019), http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/neu0000571.
A recent study published in Alpha Psychiatry sheds light on the connection between ADHD, empathy, and narcissistic traits. Researchers aimed to evaluate how pharmacological treatments—specifically psychostimulants—affect empathy deficits and pathological narcissism in adults with ADHD. These findings could have important implications for enhancing treatment outcomes and improving social functioning.
Study Overview
The study involved 75 adult ADHD patients who were treated with either methylphenidate or atomoxetine. Researchers assessed levels of narcissistic traits and empathy using validated tools such as the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) and the Empathy Quotient (EQ). Measurements were taken before treatment and after three months of therapy.
Key Findings
Why It Matters
Adults with ADHD often struggle with social interactions, partly due to empathy deficits and personality traits like narcissism. By addressing these challenges through psychostimulant treatment, patients may experience better social and emotional well-being. This study underscores the importance of viewing ADHD treatment as not just a way to manage symptoms but also a means to improve overall quality of life.Takeaway
Effective ADHD treatment goes beyond managing attention and hyperactivity. By improving empathy and reducing narcissistic traits, psychostimulants can foster healthier relationships and enhance social functioning. This research highlights the need for comprehensive care that considers the broader psychological and interpersonal effects of ADHD.
According to Fosco et al. (2019), “Inhibitory control has long been considered a central neurocognitive process in ADHD, with ADHD groups typically showing medium-sized impairments relative to their typically-developing peers on common inhibition paradigms.”
Learning to play a musical instrument requires effective coordination of physical movements and sound signals to produce music. Musical training involves repetitive practice, perfecting connections between perceptions, muscular actions, and cognition.
Noting that listening to music activates the brain’s reward circuits in both children and adults, that “Being internally motivated during learning experiences increases learning capacity and efficiency, and this greater engagement is reflected in increased electrical brain activity following musical training,” and that “Training music in a social environment increases positive feelings of bonding through shared emotions and group synchrony,” a Montreal-based research team carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the peer-reviewed medical literature from 1980 to 2023 to learn what effect music training might have on inhibition control.
Outcomes:
The team found eight randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 14 other longitudinal studies that met search criteria, including:
Meta-analysis of all 22 longitudinal studies with a combined total of 1,734 participants yielded a small-to-medium effect size improvement in inhibitory control. Variation (heterogeneity) in outcomes between individual studies was small, and there was no sign of publication bias. Restricting the analysis to the eight RCTs with a combined total of 641 participants, however, yielded a medium-to-large effect size improvement, with negligible heterogeneity, meaning the outcome was consistent across RCTs.
The Take-Away: The team concluded, “Music training plays a privileged role compared to other activities (sports, visual arts, drama) in improving children’s executive functioning, with a particular effect on inhibition control.” I cannot, however, recommend this as a therapy for ADHD until RCTs show it reduces symptoms of ADHD and/or real world impairments associated with the disorder.
Organic farming aims to protect biodiversity, promote animal welfare, and avoid using pesticides and fertilizers made from petrochemicals. Some pesticides are designed to target insects’ nervous systems but can also affect brain development and health in larger animals, including humans.
Many people believe organic food is healthier than conventionally produced food, which might be true for certain foods and health factors. But does eating organic food during pregnancy impact the chances of a child developing ADHD or autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?
In Norway, researchers can use detailed national health records to study these connections on a population-wide level, thanks to the country’s single-payer healthcare system and national registries.
The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) invites parents to participate voluntarily and has a 41% participation rate. The study includes:
For this research, a team tracked 40,707 mother-child pairs from children born between 2002 and 2009. They used questionnaires to measure how much organic food mothers consumed during pregnancy. ADHD and ASD symptoms in children were assessed using validated rating scales.
The final analysis included:
The researchers adjusted for factors like maternal age, education, previous pregnancies, BMI before pregnancy, smoking and alcohol use during pregnancy, birth year and season, and the child’s sex.
The researchers concluded that eating organic food during pregnancy has no meaningful effect on the likelihood of a child developing ADHD or ASD. They stated, “The results do not indicate any clinically significant protective or harmful effects of eating organic food during pregnancy on symptoms of ADHD and ASD in the offspring. Based on these findings, we do not recommend any specific advice regarding intake of organic food during pregnancy.”
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