A recent research study revealed that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are more likely to have problems with substance abuse – including drugs, alcohol, and cigarette – when they grow up.

Dr. Timothy Wilens, lead author of the study, said that their study is the biggest set of longitudinal studies regarding this issue. Also, he said that it supports the findings of several other studies made in the past. Overall, children with ADHD who participated in the study had a 1 ½ times greater chances of developing any form of substance abuse.

The latest observations came from a whole new look at the data that the team has previously collected from two other studies involving 268 children with ADHD. The first study focused on the boys with ADHD, while the other study observed how girls coped.

The team found out after ten years of tracking that one third of that population developed substance abuse. In contrast, they also tracked down the same number of children that were not diagnosed with ADHD and found that only a quarter of the population had problems with substance abuse.

Moreover, the researchers found that neither gender nor family background play a role in the risk elevation of substance abused. Conduct disorder, however, increased the risk three folds. They urge that children with ADHD be counselled at a very young age especially when delinquency is observed.

The researchers are now trying to find out why some ADHD patients develop substance abuse while others do not.