Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
ArticlesSocial Impairment in Girls With ADHD: Patterns, Gender Comparisons, and Correlates
Section snippets
Participants
We studied boys and girls with and without ADHD drawn from psychiatric and pediatric settings. Participants with and without ADHD were comprehensively assessed with identical methodology. Psychiatrically referred participants were drawn from lists of consecutive ADHD patients referred to a pediatric psychopharmacology program at a major teaching hospital. Pediatrically referred participants with ADHD were identified from lists in the computerized records of a health maintenance organization.
Demographic Characteristics
There were no significant differences in age or socioeconomic status (SES) between girls with and without ADHD, or between girls and boys with ADHD. Estimated Full Scale IQ for girls with ADHD was significantly lower than that of girls without ADHD and boys with ADHD (F3,494 = 5.30, p < .01, Scheffé pairwise comparisons significant at .01).
Social Functioning
On the SAICA total score, girls with ADHD evidenced significantly greater social impairment than did girls without ADHD but did not differ from boys with
DISCUSSION
In a systematic and comprehensive evaluation of social functioning in girls with ADHD, we found that ADHD in girls was associated with global and specific interpersonal deficits encompassing relationships at school and with peers, parents, and siblings. Using a psychometric definition of severe social dysfunction, we found that, like their male counterparts, girls with ADHD had a marked overrepresentation of what we have previously called “social disability.” We also found an association
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This work was supported, in part, by NIMH grant RO1 MH-50657-04 (J.B.).