The Changing Effects of an Early Childhood Attention Deficity/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Diagnosis on Cognitive Development for Cohorts of Children Born across Three Decades

Jayanti Owens, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Heide Jackson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Angela Forgues, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This study investigates how the effect of ADHD diagnosis on cognitive development has changed for children born in the early 2000s compared to those born in the early 1980s and whether the mechanisms linking diagnosis to cognition have changed for these birth cohorts. Using nationally-representative samples of youth surveyed in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979-Children (NLSY-C), the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten 1998 Study (ECLS-K 98), and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten 2011 (ECLS-K:2011), we employ OLS regression and matching techniques to test whether the effect of ADHD diagnosis in kindergarten or first grade on third grade cognition scores has changed across cohorts and whether the mechanisms linking ADHD diagnosis to cognition have shifted. Preliminary results indicate that the effect of ADHD diagnosis for subsequent cognition has declined across cohorts. Future analyses will explore whether and which mediating factors linking ADHD diagnosis to subsequent cognitive development have also shifted.