Miss. Diagnosis: A Systematic Review of ADHD in Adult Women

Summary & key facts

This systematic review looked at what happens when women live with undiagnosed ADHD and what changes after they get diagnosed as adults. The authors searched three databases and kept eight studies. They used thematic analysis and found four main themes: harms to social and emotional wellbeing, hard or strained relationships, feelings of lack of control, and increased self-acceptance after diagnosis. The review also summarizes existing research showing girls are often missed in childhood and that research and diagnostic practices have been biased toward males.

Key facts:

• The review searched three databases and included eight articles that met strict inclusion criteria.
• Thematic analysis of those eight articles produced four key themes: impacts on social-emotional wellbeing; difficult relationships; lack of control; and self-acceptance after diagnosis.
• In childhood, reported ADHD diagnosis ratios are about 3 boys to every 1 girl, while in adulthood the ratio is closer to 1:1, which suggests girls are underdiagnosed in childhood.
• ADHD is reported to affect about 5% to 10% of school-aged children and about 2% to 6% of the global adult population (figures cited from prior research).
• Mowlem et al. (2018) found that 72% of clinically diagnosed children in their study were boys. An additional 12.9% of participants met symptom criteria but had no formal diagnosis; of those undiagnosed participants, 64% were boys and 36% we
• Girls are more often diagnosed with the inattentive presentation of ADHD (symptoms like distraction, disorganization, and forgetfulness), while boys more often show hyperactive/impulsive symptoms.
• Many women who lived with undiagnosed ADHD described long-term feelings of being “different,” “stupid,” or “lazy,” and several studies cited that receiving an adult diagnosis was experienced by many as a “lightbulb moment” that helped with
• Reviews of the research base show a strong male bias: one review reported 81% of ADHD study participants were male, and among single-sex studies in a sample, 99.6% were studies of male children.

Abstract

This knowledge can be used to advance the understanding of ADHD in adult women and the implications for late diagnosis in women.

Topics

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Categories

Health Sciences Medicine Psychiatry and Mental health

Tags

Clinical psychology Developmental psychology Inclusion (mineral) Law MEDLINE Political science Psychiatry Psychology Qualitative research Social psychology Social science Sociology Systematic review Thematic analysis