Causes of ADHD

The causes of ADHD are not yet clear. However, dangers have been identified. This means: there is more risk in cases mentioned below. These extra dangers have to do with gender and age, with individual vulnerability and with the surroundings. Heredity plays a large role; if someone continues to have ADHD symptoms throughout his life, then the surroundings play a role.

Gender and Age:
ADHD occurs more in boys than in little girls: 2 up to 3 time more boys are diagnosed. To adults applies that as many women as men have ADHD.

Individual vulnerability
Heredity plays an important role. Differences in hyperactivity, impulsivity and concentration capacity are hereditable. Fifty percent of the children from a parent with ADHD will have it.
Siblings of children with ADHD have 3 up to 5 time as much chance of having ADHD.
Some parts of the brain in children with ADHD are smaller in comparison to other children. Also the brain activity could be less.
Children have a higher ADHD risk if their mother had a high bloodpressure during pregnancy, smoked, or drunk.
Children who born early, and have a low birth weight, run a higher risk of having ADHD.

Surroundings
The surroundings have no large influence on the cause of ADHD. It nevertheless influences the duration of the ADHD symptoms. A chaotic situation in a family is frequently the consequence of ADHD in 1 of the parents. Also such things as marital problems, low education level, low income, low social position, large family, crime among parents and having an adoptive family, increase the ADHD risk
The chance that ADHD will endure becomes larger if there is aggression and strict discipline in the family and bad communication between father and child. There is no link between the use of sugar and behavioural problems.