Abstract 76

ADHD is much less common among girls than in boys in both referred and community samples. Few studies have examined gender differences in children referred for ADHD evaluation. We evaluated 620 children between ages 3-18 (M = 9.2, sd = 3.3) referred for attention and learning problems. These primarily middle class children (81% Caucasian, 81% male) received comprehensive evaluations, including structured interview, questionnaire data from parents and teachers, psychoeducational testing and physical evaluations. Sixty-four percent had a diagnosis of ADHD (hyperactive or combined type) and 71% had multiple diagnoses. Boys were more likely to have ADHD than girls (X2 = 6.1, p<.05) as 66% of the boys met criteria for ADHD versus 53% of the girls. ADHD - Predominantly Inattentive Type was less common in both genders, diagnosed in 14% of the boys and 18% of the girls. With the exception of Anxiety Disorders, which were more common in girls (19% versus 11.2%, X2 = 4.5, p<.05) there were no significant gender differences in comorbidity. On dimensional measures, boys with ADHD were perceived as more aggressive (t = 3.0, p<.01), delinquent (t = 3.0, p<.01) and inattentive (t = 2.5, p<.05) than girls. Younger children were more aggressive and less attentive, while children from lower SES groups were perceived to be more aggressive. Conclusions: Girls referred for ADHD are slightly less likely than boys to meet diagnostic criteria after a thorough evaluation. Consistent with other studies, frequent comorbidity was present with ADHD and few gender differences emerged. Importantly, 71% of the children referred to the clinic had multiple diagnoses, often externalizing behavior and/or learning problems. Girls referred for ADHD may represent a slightly more heterogeneous population. Those diagnosed with ADHD, however, are similar to boys in terms of comorbidity and developmental trends. (Table)

Table 1 Comparison of DSM-IV Diagnoses by Gender
Full size table