The role of family health, socio-economic status, and heritability of neurodevelopmental disorders in the severity of cognitive dysfunctions in school-age children with ADHD

Introduction and objective: Little is known about the association between socioeconomic status, alcohol and tobacco use, and specific cognitive functions, like attention, working memory or executive functions in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. We aimed to determine if socioeconomic adversity and unhealthy family behaviours are predictors of cognitive functions in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Materials and methods: We tested 176 Polish children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder aged 10–13 using the PU1 Battery of Cognitive Functions, while the children’s parents completed a questionnaire on socioeconomic status and alcohol and tobacco use at home during their child’s life stages. We applied cluster analysis of family types and moderation analysis that tested the heritability of neurodevelopmental disorders in family interactions. Results: We identified three family types that raise children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: 1) families with higher socioeconomic status, lower level of unhealthy family behaviours, and average levels of children’s cognitive functioning, 2) families with low socioeconomic status, high level of unhealthy family behaviours, and average levels of children’s cognitive functioning, and 3) families with average socioeconomic status, low level of unhealthy family behaviours and low level of children’s cognitive functioning. We found no statistically significant associations between family predictors, the moderator variable, and cognitive functions in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Conclusions: The results of our study contrast with the large amount of evidence that shows a link between cognitive dysfunctions in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and socioeconomic status and alcohol and tobacco use.