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The Issue

Women and Girls are Just as Likely to Have ADHD, but are Diagnosed Less Often and Later in Life. 

Women and ADHD

According to Healthline, women and girls with ADHD are often overlooked and left undiagnosed until later in life. ADHD in females typically presents differently than it does in males, as women and girls tend to have the inattentive type more often than their male peers, who tend to have the hyperactive type. There are three big reasons for why this seems to happen:

  • ADHD has traditionally been portrayed as a boy's issue, specifically young children. This can be attributed to the lack of research that was done on girls for building the initial criteria of diagnosing the disorder, as well as pop culture representations, and gender expectations of children. 

  • The inattentive type of ADHD tends be more of an internal struggle, whereas the hyperactive type is more external, making it more disruptive and easier to spot. On top of this, girls tend to learn how to "mask" their symptoms in order to fit in better with their non-ADHD peers, as they get older it can become increasingly difficult to spot. 

  • Young girls and women with ADHD tend to be misdiagnosed with Depression, Anxiety, or other mood disorders before ADHD

While there is currently more research being done to understand the differences in women and girls with ADHD, public awareness of the issue is still quite low.  In order to help prevent young girls and adult women from suffering in silence with the disorder and developing long-term negative side-effects, we need to raise public consciousness so that teachers, parents, and even primary care providers and pediatricians are more likely and better able to spot ADHD at a younger age. 

Why You Should Care 

According to the APA, Young Girls With ADHD Are More Likely To:

  • Develop chronic low self-esteem

  • underachieve 

  • develop anxiety and/or depression

  • have a teen pregnancy 

  • begin smoking in middle/high school

Adult Women With ADHD Are More Likely To Experience:

  • Divorce

  • Financial Crisis

  • Being a single parent (to a child who has a 50% chance of also having ADHD)

  • Not completing college

  • Substance abuse

  • Eating disorders 

  • Higher stress levels than average

  • Underemployment 

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