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High School Incompletion Rates Highest in Teens With ADHD 

Teenagers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to drop out of high school or delay high school graduation than their counterparts with more "serious" mental health conditions, new national data suggest.

Investigators at the UC Davis MIND Institute in Sacramento, California, found that compared with teens with no psychiatric disorders, those with the combined type of ADHD were more than twice as likely to drop out or finish high school on time. In addition, ADHD trumped high school incompletion rates for other mental health disorders, including mania, mood disorders, and panic disorders.

Conduct disorder and smoking were also significantly associated with an increased risk of failing to complete high school on time, but ADHD still led the pack.

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