Pre-school Hyperactivity Problems and Educational Outcomes in Adolescence

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Authors: Elizabeth Washbrook, Carol Propper, University of Bristol, and Kapil Sayal, University of Nottingham

Published by: The British Journal of Psychiatry, August 2013

SUMMARY

Researchers, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, set out to investigate whether pre-school children with behavioural problems and issues with inattention and hyperactivity - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - are at risk of poor academic outcomes at age 16. They wanted to find out whether severe levels of early behaviour problems predict failure to achieve minimum school-leaving qualifications - five A*-C grades at GCSE.

The research team claim their study - Pre-School Hyperactivity/Attention Problems and Educational Outcomes in Adolescence: Prospective Longitudinal Study - is the largest follow-up study of the relationship between pre-school hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems, and later academic performance. They analysed data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, which tracks babies born between April 1991 and December 1992. Of those, 13,988 were still part of the study after a year. The children's records were matched to the National Pupil Database, which holds data on GCSE results, available for all children attending publicly-funded state schools. This resulted in a sample of 11,640 children, 83 per cent of the core group.