ADHD Symptomology and Severity in Canadian Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Life Course Perspective

Abstract

Little is known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic response on the development of children and adolescents with ADHD. According to the life course theory, a child's age and developmental stage at the onset of a stressful event may differentially impact their developmental trajectory. Our study explored changes in ADHD symptom severity during the pandemic for Canadian children and adolescents from kindergarten to grade 12 with clinical levels of ADHD. We focused on the period between the spring of 2021 and the fall of 2022, marked by school closures, remote learning, and the subsequent transition back to in-person education. We observed a general increase in ADHD symptom severity across all three presentations (hyperactive/impulsive, inattentive, and combined). Contrary to our predictions, we did not find children's age to be a predictive factor in the amount of symptom severity change. However, we did see a correlation between initial symptom severity and symptom change. Particularly, our findings revealed that individuals with milder symptoms at baseline experienced the greatest increases in severity over the study period. In contrast, those with more severe symptoms showed stability or even slight improvements in symptoms. Understanding the pandemic's impact on children and adolescents with ADHD is the first step to providing tailored and effective support, prevention, and intervention. Findings from our study may aid in both practical and theoretical understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic responses' impact on children and adolescents with ADHD.