William Walsh, of the Pfeiffer Treatment Center in suburban Chicago, has noticed many military families seeking treatment for an unruly child. It makes sense that a military family, used to a structured life, would want to get help for a troublesome child, Walsh said. Military spokesmen said rates near their bases might be artificially high because service members, their families and retirees get free prescription drugs at base pharmacies. Even if servicemen live far from the base, they usually fill prescriptions there, inflating that county's rate. A number of warm-weather communities use comparatively little Ritalin.
Experts attribute that to culture as well as temperature.
Los Angeles, for example, ranked 2,413 out of 3,141 counties, and Miami-Dade County, Fla., ranked 2,419. Honolulu child psychiatrist Dr. William Sheehan said ADHD behavior doesn't bother Hawaii's South Pacific islanders as much as it does whites, and many of the state's Japanese-Americans avoid any mental health diagnosis so they don't feel stigmatized. Hawaii has the lowest per-capita rate of Ritalin use in the country. Still, Hawaii's fine climate also could be a factor, Sheehan said. In warm weather, children can burn off energy outdoors.