Growing up was never easy, but a recently released study suggests it's tougher than ever for kids today.
The report claims that over seven percent of American school children are currently taking at least one medication for behavioral and/or emotional problems, with a large percentage of those issues related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The study, conducted by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, doesn't specifically identify the disorders children in the study were being treated for, but researchers did claim that roughly 80 percent of the children with emotional or behavioral difficulties had been diagnosed with ADHD.
Certainly not surprising when you consider the information from another recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that claims over two million more children in the United States have been diagnosed with ADHD and one million more U.S. children were taking medication for ADHD over an eight-year period (2003-2004 to 2011-2012).
According to CDC researchers, children are commonly being diagnosed at a young age. Half of children diagnosed with ADHD are diagnosed by six years of age. Children with more severe ADHD tend to be diagnosed earlier, about half of them by the age of four, based on reports by parents.
The silver lining in the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics report is the fact the parents of the children in their study claim the meds their children are taking are working, as over half of those parents said the drugs are helping their children, according to the report.
"We can't advise parents on what they should do, but I think it's positive that over half of parents reported that medications helped 'a lot,' " said report author LaJeana Howie, a statistical research scientist at the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.
It is important to note that all of the data collected for the report on the children was obtained through parental (or other guardian) responses. None of the information comes from medical records and was collected by the National Health Interview Survey, which continually collects information about health and health care in the United States.
Additionally, more families living below 100 percent of the federal poverty level had children taking medications for emotional and behavioral problems than those above the federal poverty level.
