Psychiatric, Psychosocial, and Cognitive Functioning of Female Adolescents With ADHD

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the psychiatric, psychosocial and cognitive functioning of adolescent ADHD females in comparison with female controls and ADHD males. Female controls were also compared to male controls to verify gender differences in a nonclinical sample.Methods: 107 adolescents from Southern Ontario aged 13 to 16 were included: 24 ADHD females, 35 ADHD males, 28 control females and 20 control males. All were assessed using semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and tests of achievement and intellectual functioning.Results: After controlling for parental education and estimated FSIQ, ADHD females were more impaired than control females in: depression, anxiety, distress, teacher relationships, stress, attributional styles, locus of control, and on all cognitive and achievement measures. ADHD females were more impaired than ADHD males in self-reported anxiety, distress, depression, locus of control, and vocabulary scores. These group differences were confirmed by higher ratings by parents and teachers in symptoms of psychopathology. ADHD males were more impaired in processing speed. Some gender differences (locus of control and vocabulary scores) were eliminated when controlling for ADHD severity. The absence of any differences between male and female controls indicates gender differences were specific to the clinical groups.Conclusion: ADHD females are at high risk for more psychological impairment than both ADHD males and control females. The identified psychosocial problems point to areas for intervention.

Local synchronization and amplitude of the fluctuation of spontaneous brain activity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a resting-state fMRI study

“…1A). But for ALFF, only one cluster in the right occipital cortex exhibited a higher value in the ADHD than in the control group, which was almost completely included in the group-difference map generated by the ReHo approach (Table 2 and Low IQ is associated with ADHD [22,23] . Given the non-random selection of groups, covarying for IQ would violate the univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) assumptions and change the group effects in potentially problematic ways [24,25] .…”

“…Lower IQ is associated with ADHD in the general population [22,23] . When the covariate is intrinsic to the condition, and hence differs between groups, it is inappropriate to "adjust" group effects for differences in the covariate because the group effect would be altered in potentially problematic ways, leading to spurious results [24,25] .…”

Educational outcomes among survivors of childhood cancer in British Columbia, Canada

“…30,31,33 Being a girl also appears to be a risk factor for educational difficulties in those with disorders such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; although these disorders are more prevalent among boys, girls are impaired more severely, [53][54][55] and in particular have more impaired intellectual functioning. [56][57][58] To our knowledge, this is the first population-based cohort study to use standardized measures to examine educational late effects of survivors of all childhood cancers.…”

Validity of the Brown ADD Scales: An investigation in a predominantly inattentive ADHD adolescent sample with and without reading disabilities

“…This sample represents a subset of a larger sample (123) of adolescents recruited for our gender study on ADHD (Rucklidge & Tannock, 2001), the main difference between the two samples being that the three ADHD subtypes (Inattentive, Hyperactive/Impulsive, and Combined) were included in the gender sample whereas only the Inattentive Type were included in this study, the rationale described below. Gender distributions across three of the four groups was fairly even (53.7% of the Brown ADD Scales, ADHD, and RD 6 control group, 48.3% of the ADHD/I, and 50% of the RD group were female) except in the combined group where only one quarter of the group was female.…”