Difficulty in focusing attention in children predicts early adolescent depression

A new 4-year longitudinal study of children and their families found inattention, one of the components of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to predict symptoms of depression 4 years later. The study was published in the Research on Child Adolescent Psychopathology. The share of population suffering from depression has risen consistently during the last 80 years in the United States. Costs of treating depression are currently assessed at $210 billion per year. This increase in prevalence of depression is accompanied with earlier age of onset with 2% of children and up to 8% of adolesce...