Getting diagnosed with ADHD earlier might mean better outcomes down the line

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-04-09 01:00

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An early Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis has been linked with better grades down the line, say German and Finnish researchers. The team looked into data on over 580,000 people, and say those kids who were diagnosed at an earlier age were more likely to grow up to have a better grade point average at age 16, have a higher probability of finishing high school over switching to other vocational studies, and had a lower probability of dropping out of school, when compared against kids who were diagnosed at the end of their compulsory time at school.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Psychiatry

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Helsinki, Finland

Funder: Ms Volotinen was funded by the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, and gratefully acknowledges the resources provided by the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science (IMPRS-PHDS). Drs Martikainen and Remes were supported by grant 101019329 from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, and grants 210046 to the Max Planck– University of Helsinki Center from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, 77204227 from the Max Planck Society, and 5714240218 from the University of Helsinki, and Cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Espoo. Dr Martikainen was also supported by grants 352543-352572 (for ACElife) and 345219 (for LIFECON) from the Strategic Research Council within the Academy of Finland. Dr Metsä-Simola was supported by grant 363724 from the Research Council of Finland.

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