

Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD - iwh
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201203/why-french-kids-dont-have-adhd

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bsaul
It's quite true ( and the fact that this condition is little known to french
people, meaning many child having it probably go undiagnosed), and you also
have to take the educationnal system into account, which follows the same
trend : child in school are much less encouraged to express personnal opinions
and work on personnal projects.

To sum up i would say it really is a combination of three things : \-
different school of psychology ( more focused on diagnosing psychoanalytics
backgrounds seeing as the "real root" causes rather than neurobiological ones)
\- different educationnal / parenting culture providing a more "framed"
environment ( at the expense of personnal initiative development) \- general
public ignorance for this condition ( maybe a consequence of the previous two)

Ps : french, nephews and nieces, personnal interest in psychology.

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anon1685
It cannot be denied, and to my understanding most ADHD research seems to
support this, that the social environment and family circumstances have a
great influence on the child's behavior. As a parent to two pretty active pre-
schoolers, I can attest that their behavior will frequently mirror that of
their parents and other significant adults. In other words - if their father
behaves in a calm and patient manner, they will tend to do the same,
subsequently if not immediately.

Also, the education system in the western world has become increasingly
standardized and formalized in the last few decades, especially in primary
education, to the point that all kids from kindergarten on are expected to
conform to a standard of behavior and development. Unfortunately, not all kids
are the same. Some find it harder to sit down for prolonged periods, some have
a healthy amount of energy and need an outlet, like those puppies who can go
out in the yard and chase their own tail for half an hour.

This raises a lot of questions, not only about ADHD, but also about retarded
mental development or other disabilities. I believe for those kids, the worst
thing one can do is to label them as ADHD and medicate them. They just need a
different approach, or a different rhythm.

To me it seems that the real difference between countries like France and
countries like the US really has to do with the way so-called abnormal kids
(or adults for that matter) are received in society. Based on my experience,
it seems that the French are more tolerant.

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crs
Linked at the bottom of this article is the counter point:
[http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-
everywher...](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-
everywhere/201209/french-kids-do-have-adhd-interview)

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tokenadult
Who here has a lot of close personal acquaintance with French children growing
up in France? What is the actual behavior you have observed there?

