DEI Collab: Underdiagnosing ADHD in Women
While ADHD is mostly diagnosed in boys, it presents just as frequently in girls. In most of the original studies for diagnosing ADHD, researchers state that the symptoms and diagnostic tools are the same among genders; however, newer studies have shown that ADHD shows up very differently in girls and therefore requires different tools to diagnose properly.
Until 2013, ADHD was categorized among disruptive behavior disorders that focused on hyperactivity in young boys. The focus on how the hyperactivity was a disturbance to others was used to gauge the severity of the disorder. This is one of the bigger reasons that it has been less commonly diagnosed in young girls because the “gender-specific” roles created environments where hyperactivity was otherwise controlled or restricted in girls. A talkative girl was considered chatty; a hyperactive girl was called restless and constantly taught to be still and, for a long time, more “ladylike”. These types of restrictive gender roles are what hid ADHD from being commonly noticed in young girls in comparison to the amount of recognition it received in young boys.
Girls/Women have shown different ways of dealing with emotional strain as well as stress brought on by hyperactivity or an inability to focus. Some of those tactics include internalizing emotions or having appearances of anxiety or “mood swings” that have often been written off instead of being recognized as coping mechanisms for underlying problems, like ADHD (Littman). Boys have been shown to blame outside sources for their hyperactivity or unruly behavior; whereas girls have a tendency to blame themselves or be blamed by others for their own inability to complete tasks or “laziness”. These “gender-specific” roles are what has hindered the progression of treatment and diagnosis of ADHD in girls and has led to women being first diagnosed with ADHD into their late twenties or older (Sigler & Novotni).
The reason why this is so important is that women will often learn to mask their symptoms more as they get older, but the lowering of self-esteem and feelings of low self-worth will continue to bury them even if it isn’t visible to the outside eye anymore. Girls tend to become “people pleasers” in an attempt to be like everyone else, even if they struggle and feel different than everyone on the inside. While research continues to grow on the subject, there is still a broader advancement in diagnostics for young boys rather than girls.
Researchers should be taking more initiatives to create proper tools and enabling doctors to diagnose ADHD in both genders at young ages so that there can be proper treatment. If we continue to ignore the signs of developing ADHD in young girls, we are failing them in giving them the best possible chances for success in their futures.
References:
Sigler, E., & Novotni, M. (2021, February 05). ADHD looks different in women. here's how - and why. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.additudemag.com/add-in-women/?src=embed_link
Littman, E. (2020, November 06). Women with adhd: No more suffering in silence. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.additudemag.com/gender-differences-in-adhd-women-vs-men/
