- “Louv provides a compendium of research demonstrating that when there is a profound imbalance in a child’s early experiences—when nature has been replaced by computer screens and fancy indoor toys—the result is an increased risk for attention deficit disorder. For example, Louv cites a Swedish study in which researchers compared children in two different day-care facilities. One facility was surrounded by tall buildings, with a brick pathway. The other was set in an orchard surrounded by woods and was adjacent to an overgrown garden; at this facility, children were encouraged to play outdoors in all kinds of weather. The researchers found that “children in the ‘green’ daycare had better motor coordination and more ability to concentrate.”37 Similarly, researchers at the University of Illinois have found that putting children in an outdoor environment, where they can actually put their hands in the dirt and feel and smell real stuff, as opposed to interacting with sophisticated computer simulations, is helpful in treating ADHD.38 Ironically, the outdoor alternative is cheaper than the program with the fancy computers. Boys are at least three times as likely to be treated for ADHD compared with girls, and the rates of diagnosis of ADHD for both girls and boys have soared over the past two decades.39 One wonders to what extent the shift from Wissenschaft to Kenntnis may have contributed to the explosion in the numbers of children being treated for ADHD.” Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men (Leonard Sax) Page 31
- “A study published in 2006, conducted jointly under the auspices of the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin, found that the likelihood of a child being diagnosed with ADHD is a function of three main factors:42 • Sex: Boys are several times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls; • Race: White children are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than black or Hispanic children;43 • Socioeconomic status: Affluent children are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than children from low-income families. For white boys in affluent suburbs, the odds of being diagnosed with ADHD at some point in childhood may be as high as one in three.” Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men (Leonard Sax) Page 34