Kids With Divorced Parents Get More Ritalin

Some research studies just raise more questions than they answer, don't they?

Like the one reported by Reuters yesterday indicating that kids with ADHD whose parents divorced were twice as likely to be given Ritalin as those with "intact" families.

So ... does this mean that the disruption of divorce makes meds more necessary for kids with ADHD?

Or that parents dealing with divorce and its aftermath are more in need of in-line behavior from their children?

Or that a parent who objected to medication is no longer being made party to the decision after a split?

Or that the change in routine that comes with a split household -- such as, perhaps, children going to after-school programs instead of home to a parent -- increases the need for medicinal behavior management?

Or that non-medicinal behavior management techniques work best with two parents working in concert?

Or that the severity of these children's ADHD, not noted until after a divorce, strained their parents' marriage to the breaking point?

Or something else entirely, or nothing at all?

The study -- conducted by a sociologist, Dr. Lisa A. Strohschein of the University of Alberta, Canada -- wasn't designed to turn up the reason, only the trend. But Strohschein's still on the case. Reuters quotes her as saying, "I might be finished with the survey, but I am not necessarily finished with the question." Or questions, as the case may be.