Although more common in little boys, ADHD does affect little girls, too, and new research is showing that it affects girls differently than it does boys, especially once the girls reach adolescence.

About 5% of all school-age children are diagnosed with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Boys are three times more likely to have the disorder than girls but there is the possibility that it may be more common in girls than previously thought. Since the disorder is more associated with boys, the disorder in girls may be frequently overlooked.

Typical symptoms of ADHD include disruptive and aggressive behaviors, restlessness, excessive talking, poor attention, impulsive behavior, and irritability. Many ADHD children have difficulty making friends and getting along with teachers and parents. They frequently earn poor grades as well.

Behavior problems, lack of peer support, and poor relationships with parents can lead to low self-esteem, an emotion many females soothe with poor eating habits. Feelings of self-consciousness may entice girls with ADHD to become binge and purge eaters as they reach adolescence. This destructive approach to eating, compounded by the impulsive nature of ADHD, often results in excessive weight gain, which further threatens a fragile self-image.

Even though boys are most often diagnosed with ADHD, girls are 10 times more likely than boys to be diagnosed with eating disorders, including the binge-purge cycle associated with bulimia nervosa. Girls are also more likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders, both associated with low self-esteem and excessive self-consciousness, neither of which is uncommon with ADHD.

These findings are the results of a study conducted in 228 girls of ethnically diverse backgrounds in the San Francisco Bay area. Of the 228 girls studied, 140 were diagnosed as ADHD and the remaining 88 were the control group. The girls’ ages ranged from 6 to 12 when the study began and they were followed for five years.

The girls with ADHD were more often overweight than the control group. Those diagnosed with a combined type of ADHD, which includes both impulsive, hyperactive behavior and attention problems, were more likely to develop bulimia nervosa than the girls in the control group and girls with the type of ADHD that involves only attention deficit issues.

Amori Yee Mikami, a psychologist with the University of Virginia and lead researcher of this study, warns that the stimulant medications most often prescribed to ADHD patients are known to suppress the appetite. She is concerned about the danger of misusing these medications to manipulate weight to counteract the weight gain associated with ADHD in adolescent girls.

Complete details of Mikami’s study are in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology’s current issue.

Source: University of Virgina