Do different factors influence whether girls versus boys meet ADHD diagnostic criteria? Sex differences among children with high ADHD symptoms

We investigate if different factors influence whether girls versus boys meet diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) among children with high ADHD symptoms. Participants were 283 children aged 7–12 from a population-based study. Girls and boys meeting diagnostic criteria for ADHD, based on an objective investigator-based interview, were compared to children who did not meet criteria despite high symptoms on a rating-scale measure of ADHD. We assessed factors that could differentially relate to diagnosis across girls and boys including ADHD symptoms, co-occurring behavioural/emotional problems and impairment, and sex-effects in rater perceptions of ADHD symptoms. While overall similar factors distinguished girls and boys who met diagnostic criteria from high-symptom peers, effect sizes were larger in girls. Emotional problems were particularly salient to distinguishing diagnosed versus high-symptom girls but not boys. Parents rated boys meeting diagnostic criteria as more impaired than high-symptom boys but did not do so for girls, and under-rated diagnosed girls’ hyperactive/impulsive symptoms compared to more objective interview assessment, with the opposite observed in boys. Results suggest girls’ ADHD may need to be made more prominent by additional behavioural/emotional problems for them to meet full diagnostic criteria and that sex differences in parental perceptions of ADHD behaviours and impairment exist.