While some factors such as heritability cannot be avoided, many environmental factors associated with ADHD liked disorganized attachment between the infant and caregiver are preventable. Many associated risk factors are in fact found in segments of the population that are socially disadvantaged showing an increased prevalence of the disorder among those of lower socioeconomic status. Dr. Joel Nigg, a professor at the Department of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health and Science University cites a long list of preventable risk factors that may influence ADHD including, “maternal psychological stress, poor prenatal care, poor prenatal nutrition, reduced or lack of breastfeeding, poor childcare, low quality schools and housing, increased family stress, …show more content…
One notable difference of the “ADHD brain” is lower overall brain volume. According to Tarver (2014), “white matter between neural tracts also suggests that there may be impaired communication between the affected brain regions. There is also less grey matter in the neural pathways connecting the frontal lobe regions that regulates motor, cognitive, and behavioral functions within the brain” (J. Tarver, 2014). Again, this begs the question of whether risk factors affect cognitive development of the child or if the presence of the disorder created such cognitive …show more content…
Children can be socially impacted in several ways, such as overall difficulty getting along with their peers. Due to lack of self-control, they may not follow the rules of a game or may play out of turn. Attention deficits may cause the child to lose focus during a conversation which harms their ability to build friendships. Children with ADHD have even been identified in studies by their peers as someone they would least want to be friends with (J. Tarver, 2014). A study found that children that have the combined type ADHD (inattentive/hyper-active/impulsive) are aggressive and unknowingly intrusive during play time and children with the inattentive subtype were not a desirable playmate, because they appeared withdrawn or did not demonstrate adequate memory to remain adequately engaged during peer interactions. If a child does not feel social acceptance or has difficulties with friends, this typically affects the child’s self-esteem. In fact, emotional disorders like depression and anxiety can be very common in individuals that have been diagnosed with