ADHD can affect many parts of a teenager’s daily life, including sleep, screen use, friendships, and how they manage everyday stress.
A 2025 CDC study published in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics provides important information about these areas. Unlike much of the earlier research, this study included information reported directly by teenagers themselves.
Researchers collected self-reported information from U.S. teenagers aged 12 to 17 years between July 2021 and December 2022. The findings challenge some of the ideas that parents and healthcare professionals may have relied on in the past.
According to 2025 CDC data, ADHD affects about 10.4% of U.S. teenagers.
Teenagers with ADHD reported:
- More experiences of bullying
- More sleep-related problems
- More daily screen time
However, they did not report lower levels of physical activity compared with teenagers without ADHD. This finding is different from some earlier research that mainly studied younger children.
One of the most important parts of this study is that researchers asked teenagers directly about their experiences instead of depending only on reports from parents or healthcare professionals.
This difference is important. Parents may not always know when their teenager is being bullied, and they may also believe their child is sleeping more than the teenager actually reports.
When a teenager’s own experience is not included, important information may be missed.
This article explains what the CDC researchers found, how some of the findings differ from older research, and what the results may mean for parents and executive function coaches.
Medication management and formal ADHD diagnosis criteria are not covered here, as these topics require separate and more detailed discussion.
You can also Read: Long-Term Study Sheds New Light on Autism and ADHD in Childhood
What Did the 2025 CDC Study Find From Teen Self-Reports?
The study by Katz and colleagues (2025) used information from the teen section of the National Health Interview Survey.
The sample was designed to represent teenagers across the United States.
About 10.4% of teenagers in the study had a parent-reported ADHD diagnosis.
However, information about health behaviors and daily experiences came directly from the teenagers themselves.
This is an important difference.
Earlier national studies about teenagers with ADHD often depended mainly on information provided by parents.
CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), a major national ADHD nonprofit organization and CDC partner, also highlighted this point in its 2025 conference coverage.
Information reported directly by teenagers can reveal experiences that may not appear in parent-only reports.
Researchers compared teenagers with ADHD and teenagers without ADHD using adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs).
The largest differences appeared in:
- Sleep
- Screen use
- Social experiences
Researchers did not find a statistically significant difference in physical activity between teenagers with and without ADHD.
This finding is especially important because some healthcare professionals may have expected teenagers with ADHD to be less physically active based on earlier research.
Why Do Teenagers With ADHD Report More Bullying but Still Feel Supported by Peers?
Teenagers with ADHD reported experiencing bullying at a rate 64% higher than their peers, with an adjusted prevalence ratio of 1.64.
They were also 83% more likely to report difficulty making friends, with an adjusted prevalence ratio of 1.83.
These findings show a significant difference in social experiences.
However, the study also found something that may initially seem surprising.
Teenagers with ADHD were less likely to report a lack of peer support, with an adjusted prevalence ratio of 0.70.
In other words, teenagers with ADHD reported more bullying and greater difficulty making friends, but they did not necessarily feel that they had less support from their peers.
There may be several possible explanations for this finding.
Some teenagers with ADHD may have a smaller number of friendships but may feel very close to those friends.
Another possibility is that a teenager’s idea of having enough support may be different from what a parent, therapist, or healthcare professional considers adequate social support.
Some teenagers may also depend strongly on one or two close relationships. Even when they experience wider social difficulties, those relationships may still make them feel supported.
These are possible explanations rather than conclusions proven by the study.
The Child Mind Institute reports that about half of adolescents with ADHD experience serious difficulties with peer relationships. They may also be more likely to experience rejection, being ignored, or bullying.
However, having difficulty with social skills does not mean that a teenager has no meaningful friendships or social support.
This difference is important.
Support should not always focus only on helping teenagers make more friends. In some cases, it may also be valuable to protect, strengthen, and support the positive relationships they already have.
Schools may not always hear directly from teenagers about their social experiences. Information may instead come from teachers, parents, or other adults.
The findings from this study suggest that asking teenagers directly about friendships, bullying, and peer support may provide important information that adults could otherwise miss.
Families working with ADHD or executive function coaches may also consider discussing these social experiences during IEP or 504 planning meetings, when appropriate.
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