Abstract
This study compared adult women with childhood ADHD to adult women without childhood ADHD and to adult men with childhood ADHD. The participants, all from a larger longitudinal study, included 30 women and 30 men (approximately age 23 to 24) with childhood ADHD, and 27 women without ADHD. Women with childhood ADHD were matched to comparison women on age, ethnicity, and parental education, and to men with childhood ADHD on age, ethnicity, and IQ. Self- and parent-reports of internalizing, interpersonal, academic, and job impairment, as well as substance use and delinquency indicated group differences on measures of self-esteem, interpersonal and vocational functioning, as well as substance use. Follow-up planned comparison tests revealed that almost all of these differences emerged by diagnostic status, and not by gender. This study adds to research on the negative adult outcomes of ADHD and demonstrates that the outcomes of men and women with childhood ADHD are relatively similar.
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This study was supported by grant AA11873 from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Research was also supported in part by AA00202, AA08746, AA12342, AA0626, and grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA12414, DA05605, F31 DA017546), the National Institute on Mental Health (MH12010, MH4815, MH47390, MH45576, MH50467, MH53554, MH069614), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES0515-08), and Institute of Education Sciences (IESLO3000665A, IESR324B060045).
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Babinski, D.E., Pelham, W.E., Molina, B.S.G. et al. Women with Childhood ADHD: Comparisons by Diagnostic Group and Gender. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 33, 420–429 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-011-9247-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-011-9247-4