A Summary/Response to Christina Boufis’ “Yes, Girls get ADHD too”

The following is adapted from a paper I wrote for Abnormal Psych Spring2013. Enjoy!

I admit, when the condition ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder) comes to mind, the first thing I imagine is the proverbial first-grade male with the energy and concentrating abilities of a humming bird. As it turns out, not only is this view shared by many in popular culture, it also misses important facets of the condition. ADHD is not just a medical name for ants-in-your-pants, nor is it necessarily predominately-male. As the following article suggests, girls get it too, and frequently they go far longer without help than their male counterparts. Much to their detriment, the popular view of ADHD tends to make us miss the signs in girls as they pass through formative years in education and maturation. 

According to the article, one of the reasons we tend to associate ADHD with males is because the signs of it tend to be more obvious in them. Dr. Harlan Gephart, a clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington medical school in Seattle, is quoted as saying, “‘Of the three traits that define ADHD—hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and inattentiveness—the first two are thought to be more descriptive of boys.’” Not surprisingly, a recent national study found that “…the majority of parents and teachers perceived ADHD to be more common in boys, who they believed had more behavior problems. Almost half of teachers that participated in this study also reported that they had difficulty recognizing the signs of ADHD in girls.” A second study from Australia found that“…even when parents and teachers acknowledged the disorder in girls, they were less likely to recommend [girls] get extra assistance because they believed it wouldn't help them as much as it would boys.” It is for this reason perhaps that for girls, “…an ADHD diagnosis isn't made until middle or high school or even later, when school becomes more demanding and a girl is having trouble completing her homework, or her undiagnosed ADHD leads to depression.”

This is unfortunate, but perhaps not surprising. The research cited in the article goes some way in showing how popular perceptions not only blind us to ADHD symptoms in girls, but also compel us to believe treatment for them would be unhelpful. As a result, many girls go years without a diagnosis, potentially leaving them far behind their peers in cumulative subjects such as mathematics and science. In this respect we do both girls and society a disservice by our bias and oversight.

Yet correcting them is liable to be difficult, particularly since, as Gephart is quoted as saying, “‘The big problem with ADHD in girls is that it presents itself differently.’” As such, the example presented to us by males may not serve as a useful indicator for detecting the condition in females. A deeper and more nuanced understanding, to say nothing of a more open perspective, seems necessary to counter the prevailing notion of ADHD as a primarily male disorder with male symptoms. Preconceptions and general ideas are useful, but as this case suggests, they too have their limits.