Question: What causes ADHD?
Answer: Personality is thought to be 1/2 temperament which is primarily genetic. But personality disorders are thought to be primarily learned, maladaptive, and mostly deficits in character development. ADHD on the other hand has been found to be 75% genetically determined. Studies include comparing ADHD identical vs. fraternal twins and studying individuals who have been adopted at birth. The likelihood that they will turn out to be ADHD primarily correlates with the presence or absence of these traits in their biologic parents not their adoptive parents. This is much less true for personality disorders or character.
So whether we are ADHD is mainly (75%) determined by how we choose our parents and the luck of the draw. What about the other 25%? Several things have been found to increase the chances that ADHD traits in childhood will continue into adult life. This includes early childhood trauma and neglect which increase risk/severity of ADHD symptoms. Early exposure to television correlates with increased severity of ADHD symptoms also. Undoubtedly being exposed to high stimulation such as computer games, or maybe even computers themselves will result in brain adaptations that might make it harder to focus in low stimulation settings. Modern lifestyle with the demands for multi-tasking will be more difficult for “all or none” ADHD personalities.
