New insights reveal irritability and anxiety as early indicators of depression risk in young people with ADHD

Research from Cardiff University highlights how irritability, anxiety, and pessimistic thinking in children and adolescents with ADHD may predict the development of depression, with stronger patterns observed in girls, emphasising the importance of early screening.

Researchers at Cardiff University say anxiety, irritability and negative thought patterns may help explain why young people with ADHD are more likely to develop depression later on. The team, working at the Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health, analysed long-term data from two large UK studies and found that depressive symptoms rose as ADHD symptoms increased, with the link consistently stronger in girls than in boys.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, drew on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, known as Children of the 90s, and the Twins Early Development Study. According to the researchers, the data covered childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, allowing them to examine whether clinical factors, thinking patterns and cognitive measures helped explain the ADHD-depression connection over time.

Lucy Riglin, a lecturer in psychological medicine and clinical neurosciences at Cardiff University, said the study set out to test whether irritability, anxiety, emotion recognition and other learning-related traits, along with negative beliefs about control and life outcomes, could account for the higher depression risk. The analysis found that irritability and anxiety were the main factors in childhood and young adulthood, while adolescence was marked more by pessimistic thinking and a belief that outcomes were shaped by luck, fate or other people.

Egle Padaigaitė-Gulbinienė, of Cardiff University School of Medicine, said the stronger pattern seen in girls may reflect later recognition and diagnosis of ADHD, which can delay support and raise the risk of depression. She said the results point to the value of early screening for irritability and anxiety in children and teenagers with ADHD, while the researchers added that further work is needed to test whether these factors directly cause depression and whether similar pathways appear in young people with ADHD and autism.