Sex differences in ADHD symptom severity
Open accessAbstract
Background: Males show higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) than do females. Potential explanations include genuine etiological differences or artifact. Methods: 2,332 twin and sibling youth participated in behavioral and cognitive testing. Partially competing models of symptom severity distribution differences, the mean difference, and variance difference models, were tested within a randomly selected subsample. The Delta method was used to test for mediation of sex differences in ADHD symptom severity by processing speed, inhibition and working memory. Results: The combined mean difference and variance difference models fully explained the sex difference in ADHD symptom severity. Cognitive endophenotypes mediated 14% of the sex difference effect. Conclusions: The sex difference in ADHD symptom severity is valid and may be due to differing genetic and cognitive liabilities between the sexes.
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Many neurodevelopmental disorders also exhibit robust sex differences in diagnosis and symptomology.
“many of which also exhibit robust sex differences in diagnosis and symptomology (Aleman et al., 2003; Ramtekkar et al., 2010; Arnett et al., 2015; Halladay et al., 2015; Giordano et al., 2021; Prosperi et al., 2021).”
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- Authors
- Arnett, A. B., Pennington, B. F., Willcutt, E. G., DeFries, J. C., & Olson, R. K.
- Affiliations
- University of Denver (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Corresponding author
- Arnett, Anne B.
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-10-04
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 632-639
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- PMC
- PMC4385512
- OpenAlex
- W2123649925
- Cited by
- 333
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 73 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 14
- FWCI
- 10.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Digital Commons - DU (University of Denver) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (F31MH099749)
- National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (HD27802)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Keywords
- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sex differences, ADHD symptom severity, cognitive endophenotypes, processing speed, inhibition, working memory, mediation, genetic susceptibility
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Child, Diseases in Twins, Female, Humans, Male, Severity of Illness Index, Sex Factors, Young Adult, Endophenotypes
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