A study published by the journal Nature’s Scientific Reports has indicated that young mothers are at a much higher risk of having kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study was exploring the genetic relationship between female reproductive traits and key psychiatric disorders.
ADHD is a neurodevelopment disorder that affects children’s behaviors such as impulsivity and inattentive behaviors. The ability to exert age-appropriate control is also highly affected by this disorder.
Benefits of study to young mothers
Hong Lee, Associate Professor at the University of Australia argued that young parents find themselves in a very difficult situation. They struggle to raise the child and adjust to the parental roles as they are also young. She continued by saying,
The findings could help improve reproductive health in women and deliver better outcomes for their children.
The study used data from 220,685 women via the UK Biobank and established that young women had a higher chance of passing this trait to their children. The study particularly determined that the risk was much higher, especially for women under 20 years.
Five female reproductive traits were examined during this research (age at first birth, age at first sexual intercourse, age at first occurrence of menstruation, age at menopause, and the number of live births) and six psychiatry disorders (ADHD, autism, eating disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia).
Lee said that this research will be very helpful in the future. She said that the research involved two parts where first they will be able to determine the risk a young woman is in, for having an ADHD child. They will also be able to inform young mothers about this risk if they decide to have a baby at a young age.
Reproductive health and maternal environment
This might help prevent young women from having children at a younger age. The benefits of not being a very young mother are tremendous, according to Lee. She stated that this will improve their reproductive health and maternal environment of their babies.
The second part, Lee continued, will be training young mothers about how to recognize if their children have ADHD. This will help them in seeking medical intervention early. This will in turn help in providing an environment where the kids can thrive.
The study also noted that ADHD is a highly inheritable disease. Therefore, if one parent is carrying the disorder, the risk of having a child with ADHD is much higher.
