Family history of ADHD associates with stronger problem-solving skills amongst 2- to 3-year-olds

TY - JOUR

T1 - Family history of ADHD associates with stronger problem-solving skills amongst 2- to 3-year-olds

AU - and the EASE and STAARS Teams

AU - Hendry, Alexandra

AU - Jones, Emily J.H.

AU - Andersson-Konke, Linn

AU - Agyapong, Mary

AU - Bazelmans, Tessel

AU - Begum-Ali, Jannath

AU - Ersoy, Mutluhan

AU - Goodwin, Amy

AU - Pasco, Greg

AU - Falck-Ytter, Terje

AU - Johnson, Mark H.

AU - Charman, Tony

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). JCPP Advances published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Background: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is linked to strengths in creative problem-solving amongst school-aged children and adults. In contrast, autism (which frequently co-occurs with ADHD) is associated with lower generativity, and perseverative responses during problem-solving. Little is known about how ADHD and autism traits—or broader heritable autism and ADHD phenotypes—associate with problem-solving skills in early childhood. Methods: 129 UK 2- and 3-year-olds (exploratory dataset) and 74 Swedish 3-year-olds (confirmatory dataset) with and without a family history (FH) of ADHD and autism, completed a problem-solving task. Parents reported on their 3-year-olds’ ADHD and autism traits using the Child Behaviour Checklist and Social Responsiveness Scale-2. FH group differences in problem-solving performance were tested using ANOVA (exploratory dataset, FH-autism and FH-ADHD as fixed factors) and t-test (confirmatory and combined datasets split by FH-ADHD). Linear regressions of problem-solving success on autism/ADHD traits were run in both samples. Results: Compared with peers with no FH-ADHD, children with FH-ADHD showed higher problem-solving success at 2 (partial ω2 = 0.106) and 3 years (partial ω2 = 0.045) in the exploratory dataset. In the confirmatory dataset, a FH-ADHD-and-autism group trended towards higher success scores compared with a no-FH-ADHD group (comprising FH-autism-only and no-FH ADHD-or-autism sub-groups) but scores were only significantly higher for children with FH-ADHD-and-autism when compared with children with no FH-ADHD-or-autism (gs = 0.977). ADHD (but not autism) traits were positively associated with problem-solving performance in the exploratory (β = 0.212, p = 0.031) and combined samples (β = 0.173, p = 0.024). Effects were a consistent direction and magnitude, but not significant, in the confirmatory sample alone (β = 0.201, p = 0.103). Conclusions: Considering a child's family history alongside their neurodivergent traits may help to identify their likely strengths, and how to access them: Children with ADHD traits and/or a family history of ADHD are likely to have an aptitude for generative problem-solving when presented with highly motivating, ecologically valid challenges.

AB - Background: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is linked to strengths in creative problem-solving amongst school-aged children and adults. In contrast, autism (which frequently co-occurs with ADHD) is associated with lower generativity, and perseverative responses during problem-solving. Little is known about how ADHD and autism traits—or broader heritable autism and ADHD phenotypes—associate with problem-solving skills in early childhood. Methods: 129 UK 2- and 3-year-olds (exploratory dataset) and 74 Swedish 3-year-olds (confirmatory dataset) with and without a family history (FH) of ADHD and autism, completed a problem-solving task. Parents reported on their 3-year-olds’ ADHD and autism traits using the Child Behaviour Checklist and Social Responsiveness Scale-2. FH group differences in problem-solving performance were tested using ANOVA (exploratory dataset, FH-autism and FH-ADHD as fixed factors) and t-test (confirmatory and combined datasets split by FH-ADHD). Linear regressions of problem-solving success on autism/ADHD traits were run in both samples. Results: Compared with peers with no FH-ADHD, children with FH-ADHD showed higher problem-solving success at 2 (partial ω2 = 0.106) and 3 years (partial ω2 = 0.045) in the exploratory dataset. In the confirmatory dataset, a FH-ADHD-and-autism group trended towards higher success scores compared with a no-FH-ADHD group (comprising FH-autism-only and no-FH ADHD-or-autism sub-groups) but scores were only significantly higher for children with FH-ADHD-and-autism when compared with children with no FH-ADHD-or-autism (gs = 0.977). ADHD (but not autism) traits were positively associated with problem-solving performance in the exploratory (β = 0.212, p = 0.031) and combined samples (β = 0.173, p = 0.024). Effects were a consistent direction and magnitude, but not significant, in the confirmatory sample alone (β = 0.201, p = 0.103). Conclusions: Considering a child's family history alongside their neurodivergent traits may help to identify their likely strengths, and how to access them: Children with ADHD traits and/or a family history of ADHD are likely to have an aptitude for generative problem-solving when presented with highly motivating, ecologically valid challenges.

KW - ADHD

KW - autism

KW - endophenotype

KW - executive functions

KW - generativity

KW - problem-solving

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105000067681&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/jcv2.70009

DO - 10.1002/jcv2.70009

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105000067681

SN - 2692-9384

JO - JCPP Advances

JF - JCPP Advances

ER -