Gender Bias In Adhd Essay

Gender Bias in the Diagnosis of ADHD in Children

Attention-deficit disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric behavioral disorder characterized by significant difficulty with attention and inhibitory control, resulting in hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and attention-deficits. According to the American Psychiatric Association, as of 2011, 11% of children 4-17 years of age have been diagnosed with ADHD, and boys are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed than girls. It was originally thought that males were predisposed to the condition, but studies suggest that there may be a gender bias in referring and diagnosing ADHD in children. This topic is of particular interest to me as a young woman who has struggled with attention control and impulsiveness, and also as person wanting to become an elementary school educator. Undiagnosed learning and mood disorders can cause significant trauma. It is important to understand the gender gap in ADHD diagnosis

However, according to “Why Is There a Gender Gap in Children Presenting for Attention Deficit/Hype” , gender is a greater determiner of whether or not a child will receive ADHD service than all of those factors combined. One of the most common avenues through which a child is diagnosed with ADHD is teacher referral (Parent–Teacher Agreement on ADHD Symptoms Across Development). Effects of Child Gender and Symptom Type on Referrals for ADHD by Elementary School Teachers found that “the ratio of boys to girls is considerably higher (6:1 to 9:1) in clinical (i.e., referred) samples than in nonreferred samples (2:1 to 3:1)”. This means that while boys are six to nine times more likely to be referred for a diagnosis, they are only two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, indicating that the referral frequency of boys is disproportionate to that of