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Research on Consequences: Hyperactive Girls Face Problems as Adults |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: The study, published in the latest issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, followed 881 Canadian girls from the ages of six to 21 years to see how hyperactive or aggressive behaviour in childhood could affect early adulthood. Another one in ten girls showed both high levels of hyperactive and physically aggressive behaviour. "Few studies have looked at the consequences of aggressive and hyperactive behaviour in girls," said UCL lead researcher, Nathalie Fontaine. Girls with hyperactive behaviour (restlessness, jumping up and down, a difficulty keeping still or fidgety), while girls exhibiting physical aggression (fighting, bullying, kicking, biting or hitting) were found to have a high risk of developing adjustment problems in adulthood. The study also found that hyperactive or aggressive girls were more vulnerable to grow into smoking, psychologically abusive partners and poor performance in school. What's more, females with both hyperactivity and physical aggression reported physical and psychological aggression towards their partner, along with early pregnancy and dependency on welfare. "Our study suggests that girls with chronic hyperactivity and physical aggression in childhood should be targeted by intensive prevention programmes in elementary school, because they are more likely to have serious adjustment problems later in life," cautioned Dr. Fontaine. "Programmes targeting only physical aggression may be missing a significant proportion of at-risk girls. Not all hyperactive and physically aggressive girls, however, grow up with serious adjustment problems, according to co-author Richard Tremblay, a professor of psychology, pediatrics and psychiatry and director of the Research Unit on Children's Psycho-Social Maladjustment at the University of Montreal and Sainte-Justine Hospital.
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