Zahedan Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Journal homepage: www.zjrms.ir The Relationship between Childhood Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Adulthood Borderline Personality Disorder

Background: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a risk factor for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) during adulthood. Studying the relationship between childhood ADHD disorder symptoms and depression and borderline personality disorder symptoms among students was the main aim of this study. Materials and Methods: A total of 291 students, who were studying in Shiraz and Tabriz universities inThe academic year of 2010-2011, were selected from three groups of Humanities, Basic Sciences, and Technical-Engineering Sciences using simple sampling method. They participated in the study through completing Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS), Borderline Personality Scale (STB) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Pearsons correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between childhood ADHD and borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in adulthood and childhood ADHD is able to predict BPD in adulthood (p<0.01). Similarly, the relationship between symptoms of childhood ADHD and depression was positive and significant (p<0.01). Conclusion: There is a relationship between symptoms of childhood ADHD, BPD and depression in students. It is recommended to pay due attention to the comorbidity disorders such as BPD and depression in the treatment of ADHD disorder. Copyright © 2013 Zahedan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved