The DOI matches its Crossref record; 91 of the 91 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
From Hyperactive Children to ADHD Adults: Observations on the Expansion of Medical Categories
Abstract
Medicalization is, by definition, about the extension of medical boundaries. Analogous to “domain expansion,” extant medicalized categories can expand to become broader and more inclusive. This paper examines the emergence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adults. ADHD, commonly known as Hyperactivity, became established in the 1970s as a diagnosis for children; it expanded first to include “adult hyperactives” and, in the 1990s, “ADHD Adults.” This allowed for the inclusion of an entire population of people and their problems that were excluded by the original conception of hyperactive children. We show how lay, professional, and media claims help establish the expanded diagnostic category. We identify particular aspects of the social context that contributed to the rise of adult ADHD and outline some of the social implications of ADHD in adults, especially the medicalization of underperformance and the availability of new disability rights. Adult ADHD serves as an exemplar of several cases of diagnostic expansion, an important avenue of increasing medicalization.
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Cites
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The Harmony of Illusions: Inventing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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Cited by
Biomedicalization: Technoscientific Transformations of Health, Illness, and U.S. Biomedicine
Clarke, A. E., Shim, J. K., Mamo, L., Fosket, J. R., & Fishman, J. R. (2003) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/000312240306800201 · Cited by 560
Biogenetic explanations and stigma: A meta-analytic review of associations among laypeople
Kvaale, E. P., Gottdiener, W. H., & Haslam, N. (2013) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.07.017 · Cited by 302
PESCOSOLIDO, B. A., JENSEN, P. S., MARTIN, J. K., PERRY, B. L., OLAFSDOTTIR, S., & FETTES, D. (2008) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/chi.0b013e318160e3a0 · Cited by 268
Under Diagnosis of Adult ADHD: Cultural Influences and Societal Burden
Asherson, P., Akehurst, R., Kooij, J. J. S., Huss, M., Beusterien, K., Sasané, R., Gholizadeh, S., & Hodgkins, P. (2012) · Journal of Attention Disorders · doi:10.1177/1087054711435360 · Cited by 189
Distinguishing comorbidity and successful management of adult ADHD
Kooij, J. J. S., Huss, M., Asherson, P., Akehurst, R., Beusterien, K., French, A., Sasané, R., & Hodgkins, P. (2012) · Journal of Attention Disorders · doi:10.1177/1087054711435361 · Cited by 172
Metadata
- Authors
- Conrad, P., & Potter, D.
- Venue
- Social Problems
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2000-11
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 559-582
- ISSN
- 0037-7791 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-8533
- OpenAlex
- W2026135506
- Cited by
- 358
- References
- 91
- FWCI
- 1.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
