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Comparative Study
. 2018 Jul;22(9_suppl):49S-60S.
doi: 10.1177/1087054716685842. Epub 2017 Feb 1.

How Substance Users With ADHD Perceive the Relationship Between Substance Use and Emotional Functioning

John T Mitchell  1 , Thomas S Weisner  2 , Peter S Jensen  3   4 , Desiree W Murray  1   5 , Brooke S G Molina  6 , L Eugene Arnold  7 , Lily Hechtman  8 , James M Swanson  9 , Stephen P Hinshaw  10   11 , Elizabeth C Victor  1 , Scott H Kollins  1 , Karen C Wells  1 , Katherine A Belendiuk  10 , Andrew Blonde  1 , Celeste Nguyen  9 , Lizeth Ambriz  2 , Jenny L Nguyen  9
Affiliations
Comparative Study

How Substance Users With ADHD Perceive the Relationship Between Substance Use and Emotional Functioning

John T Mitchell et al. J Atten Disord. 2018 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: Although substance use (SU) is elevated in ADHD and both are associated with disrupted emotional functioning, little is known about how emotions and SU interact in ADHD. We used a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach to explore this relationship.

Method: Narrative comments were coded for 67 persistent (50 ADHD, 17 local normative comparison group [LNCG]) and 25 desistent (20 ADHD, 5 LNCG) substance users from the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA) adult follow-up (21.7-26.7 years-old).

Results: SU persisters perceived SU positively affects emotional states and positive emotional effects outweigh negative effects. No ADHD group effects emerged. Qualitative analysis identified perceptions that cannabis enhanced positive mood for ADHD and LNCG SU persisters, and improved negative mood and ADHD for ADHD SU persisters.

Conclusion: Perceptions about SU broadly and mood do not differentiate ADHD and non-ADHD SU persisters. However, perceptions that cannabis is therapeutic may inform ADHD-related risk for cannabis use.

Keywords: ADHD; MTA study; qualitative research; substance use.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percent of participants endorsing a moderate/substantial perceived relationship for each topic. Each topic was scored on a scale from 0 to 8 where 0–2 corresponds to no/mild perceived relationship and 3–8 corresponds to moderate/substantial perceived relationship. Sample sizes varied because not all participants received a rating for each topic (n = 41–47 ADHD/SU Persisters, n = 15–16 LNCG/SU Persisters, n = 17–20 ADHD/SU Desisters, n = 4 LNCG/SU Desisters).
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