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Open Access 01-08-2016 | BEHAVIOURAL EPIDEMIOLOGY

The association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms and self-employment

Authors: Ingrid Verheul, Wim Rietdijk, Joern Block, Ingmar Franken, Henrik Larsson, Roy Thurik

Published in: European Journal of Epidemiology | Issue 8/2016

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms have been associated with the decision to become self-employed. Although these symptoms are generally regarded as disadvantageous, there may also be a bright side. To our knowledge, however, there has been no systematic, epidemiological evidence to support this claim. This paper examines the association between ADHD symptoms and self-employment in a population-based sample from the STAGE cohort of the Swedish Twin Registry (N = 7208). For replication, we used a sample of Dutch students who participated in the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey (N = 13,112). In the Swedish sample, we found a positive association with self-employment for both general ADHD symptoms [odds ratio (OR) 1.13; 95 % confidence intervals (CI) 1.04–1.23] and hyperactivity symptoms [OR 1.19; 95 % CI 1.08–1.32], whereas no association was found for attention-deficit symptoms [OR 0.99; 95 % CI 0.89–1.10]. The positive association between hyperactivity and self-employment was replicated in the Dutch student sample [OR 1.09; 95 % CI 1.03–1.15]. Our results show that certain aspects of ADHD, in particular hyperactivity, can have a bright side, as they are positively associated with self-employment.

Throughout the paper we refer to hyperactivity symptoms, although the ASRS v1.1 measure is slightly broader given that it includes three items related to impulsivity.

For more information about GUESSS, we refer to http://www.guesssurvey.org.

For the analyses including the ADHD symptom scale (plus controls), the log pseudo likelihood was −2705, the pseudo R-square was 0.06, and the Wald Chi-square was 319.4. Standard errors were adjusted for 8434 clusters in pair ID (identifying twins). For the analyses separating attention-deficit and hyperactivity, the log pseudo likelihood amounted to −4118, the pseudo R-square was 0.04, and the Wald Chi-square was 354.8. Standard errors were adjusted for 8771 clusters in pair ID.

In line with Kessler et al. [38, 40], the reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha) for general ADHD symptoms, attention-deficit symptoms and hyperactivity symptoms were 0.59, 0.58, and 0.50, respectively, indicating that the scales were moderately reliable.

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Title: The association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms and self-employment
Authors: Ingrid Verheul
Wim Rietdijk
Joern Block
Ingmar Franken
Henrik Larsson
Roy Thurik
Publication date: 01-08-2016
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: European Journal of Epidemiology / Issue 8/2016
Print ISSN: 0393-2990
Electronic ISSN: 1573-7284
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-016-0159-1

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

The association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms and self-employment

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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