The present investigation (N = 60) examined HSQ and SSQ (Home Situations Questionnaire/School Situations Questionnaire) protocols across individual items and recently developed factoral dimensions. The purpose was to assess the degree to which situational variability in behavior may prove sensitive to sex differences in ADHD children. Results did not support clear gender differences in children identified as ADHD.
Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the more common childhood disorders brought to the attention of physicians and child psychologists. Prevalence of this disorder approximates 3 to 5% of the school-age population, with a commonly accepted sex ratio of 6:l in favor of boys . The overwhelming number of participants in ADHD research have been boys, much to the unfortunate exclusion of girls. This may be related in part to the larger number of boys referred for evaluation due to disruptive behavior, which has facilitated their availability for study. A second reason may be that teachers and parents have been conditioned to view boy-girl behavior patterns differently as a result of cultural biases. For whatever reasons, similarities and differences between ADHD boys and girls have not been well documented.
To date, only a handful of investigations have approached the issue of gender differences. Prinz and Loney (1974) studied teacher-identified ADD (high activity level) and normal girls and found the former group to be more impulsive and less well adjusted than normals. Kashani, Chapel, Ellis, and Shekim (1979) matched ADD/H children across SES, race, age, and cognitive variables in their retrospective analysis of gender differences. Girls were reported to be more enuretic and fearful, but less likely to be referred for aggression than boys. There also appeared a higher incidence of parental divorce and psychopathology in the sample of girls. deHass and Young (1984) compared a group of teacher-identified ADD and normal girls. Their results suggested that normals have a longer attention span and greater concentration than do their counterparts. This sample of ADD girls did not display the impulsive behavior and conduct problems that frequently characterize ADD boys. In a second study that utilized teacher-identified ADD children, deHass (1986) indicated that ADD girls and boys experienced more difficulty with peer relationships, were more inattentive, and had more problems with behavior than did normals. In addition, ADD boys were viewed as presenting more disruptive behavior within the classroom setting than did ADD girls.
In a series of studies that employed more rigorous sample selection criteria (i.e., interview, parentkeacher rating scales) than noted earlier, Befera and Barkley (1985) compared clinic-referred ADDH boys and girls with matched controls specific to motherchild interactions, family psychiatric status, and child psychopathology. Their data indicated ADDH children to be more noncompliant, off-task, and negative, while their mothers were more controlling than normals. However, the few measures that illustrated gender differences between ADDH samples suggested boys received more praise/direction. Breen and Barkley (1988), Breen (1989), and Horn, Wagner, and Ialongo (1989) investigated gender differences across parentkeacher ratings of psychopathology; degree of parent stress relative to child care and management; within-clinic observations; self-