Gender comparisons of service use among youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

The authors compared service-use patterns and factors associated with service use for 279 boys and 119 girls who met the criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).The participants had been identified from a nationally representative sample of Australian youth. Boys and girls with ADHD did not differ in their rates of service use, the types of services they attended (school/education or health-based services), the types of help they received, and the main problems for which they received help, with the exception that boys had higher rates of medication use. However, the factors associated with service use were not uniform across gender. For boys, problems with schoolwork or grades and number of ADHD symptoms were the main predictors of service use,whereas for girls the main predictor was the presence of depressive disorders.These findings suggest there are gender differences in the factors associated with service use among children with ADHD that are likely to have implications for assessment and treatment of the disorder.