This study looked at 231 older adults aged 60 to 94 who took part in a long-running aging study in Amsterdam. Of these, 23 met the criteria for an ADHD diagnosis and 208 did not. The researchers compared the social lives of the two groups.
Older adults with ADHD were more likely to be divorced or never married. Their odds of this were about three times higher (OR 3.39). More of them were divorced or never married (26.1% compared with 10.1%). After the researchers accounted for age, the ADHD group also had fewer family members in their social network, saw fewer family members each week, and reported higher emotional loneliness.
The study also looked at ADHD symptom levels rather than a full diagnosis. Higher symptom levels were linked to giving more emotional support, more emotional and social loneliness, more recreational activity, and lower income. ADHD was not linked to whether a person was still working.
The authors note that the ADHD group was small, with only 23 people, so the study had limited power to detect effects. The results describe what was found in this group and do not tell any reader what to do.
Source: Marieke Michielsen, Hannie C. Comijs, Marja Aartsen, et al.. The Relationships Between ADHD and Social Functioning and Participation in Older Adults in a Population-Based Study. Journal of Attention Disorders (2013). doi:10.1177/1087054713515748