Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder manifests early in life, appearing most commonly before the age of 7. Up to 50 percent of children who have ADHD will continue to have the disorder into adulthood. Many adults with ADHD may not have been diagnosed in childhood, but the American Academy of Family Physicians notes that all adults with ADHD had it in childhood, from at least the age of 7, whether they knew it or not.
Academic Impairment
The symptoms of ADHD cause significant impairment in educational settings for both children and adults with ADHD. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders describes certain criteria used for diagnosing ADHD that include a pattern of difficulty in sustaining the mental effort required to finish schoolwork. Students with ADHD have the tendency to make careless mistakes. They frequently lose of pencils, books or other school supplies. Teachers are often exasperated by the ADHD student's inability to remain seated or stay in the classroom. His tendency to blurt out answers and failure to wait his turn to perform tasks are frequently disruptive to the classroom.
Occupational Impairment
Adults with ADHD often experience difficulties at work, according to MayoClinic.com. Employees with untreated ADHD are more prone to miss deadlines, or they may be unable to complete assignments, leading co-workers to resent the additional responsibility of taking on their incomplete tasks. Adults with ADHD often forget to show up at scheduled meetings. Mood swings and angry outbursts at work frequently cause tension with co-workers and supervisors of ADHD employees. These work-related difficulties may result in an inability to keep a job. Serial unemployment is a common concern in adults with ADHD.
Social Impairment
The challenges related to ADHD cause the family and peer relationships of ADHD patients to suffer. Peers may ostracize children with ADHD because of their tendency to interrupt others and react with temper tantrums. The home lives of ADHD children are strained, as their parents struggle to find solutions to their child's impulsive and seemingly uncontrollable behavior. Siblings of ADHD children may resent them for monopolizing their parents' attention.
Adults with ADHD suffer social repercussions for their tendency to speak without thinking, be inattentive during conversations and have angry outbursts. Partners can become frustrated with their significant others with ADHD when they forget important dates or tasks that need completing. ADHD adults sometimes have a high rate of relationship turnover, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, due to their inability to sustain a stable partnership.
