Twin and sibling study reveals genuine sex differences in ADHD symptom severity in youth, indicating differing genetic and cognitive liabilities.
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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Arnett et al. (2014) studied this question.
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