“this is important because it demonstrates that hoarding doesn’t just affect people later in life, who are typically the focus of much of the research so far into hoarding disorder.
adhd is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders experienced by young people,
according to the centre for addiction and mental health. the condition, which affects attention span, concentration and impulse control, is believed to have a prevalence rate between one and 11 per cent among young people. it is four times more common in boys than girls.
to explore the relationship between the two disorders, researchers recruited 88 participants from an adult adhd clinic in the u.k. and asked them a series of questions, including those related to adhd symptoms, impulsivity, levels of clutter, perfection, depression and anxiety. they found that 19 per cent of this group displayed significant hoarding symptoms, were generally in their 30s and were split almost evenly by gender. among the remaining 81 per cent of the subject pool, researchers detected greater hoarding susceptivity but not to a level that interfered with their lives.
they presented the same questions to a closely matched control group of 90 subjects from the general population and discovered that only two per cent exhibited clinically significant hoarding behaviour. they followed up with an online sample of 220 uk adults and found only three per cent demonstrated symptoms of hoarding.
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