By Izabella Helbin
Reading time 4 minutes ⏰
After knowing the distinct patterns and symptoms of impaired cognitive control amongst young girls with and without ADHD, we can begin to understand the challenges of everyday life from another point of view. The extent of the symptoms begins to overshadow everyday habits and plays an important role in the children’s upbringing and social environment.
Studies show there is no doubt that girls with ADHD have difficulties throughout adolescence. Results show the primary two outcomes of ADHD in adolescence are to fight against the everyday life lived in vulnerability, and sub-themes being stress, concern, and finding their own path in life (Ahlstrom and Wentz, 2014). In everyday life, young girls with ADHD are burdened by difficult challenges such as bullying at school or learning challenges that make them vulnerable. The bullying provides frustration and not the learning challenges may result in frustration as they make feel as though they are not receiving the same benefits as their peers and siblings. Other studies showed that other examples of young girls with ADHD claiming to be treated unfairly arise from false accusations of being the cause of failure in the family. These were examples of parents who sometimes spoke harshly of their children. These hardships became challenging to handle, leading to the sub-themes of deep internal factors. Because young girls with ADHD may have difficulty in socially engaging environments, although not knowing they act any differently than any other child, feelings of powerlessness occur when the bullying brings the uprise of stress and concern. Overall, multiple studies show that although young girls with ADHD are exposed to multiple challenging scenarios growing up and have difficulties in identity exploration into their adolescence, they are some of the most motivated personalities in order to find adequate solutions for their role in society (Laugesen et al. 2017).
Because of the high rise in accessibility of internet connection on mobile devices, children have easier access to knowledge of dangerous activities such as smoking and drinking. These substance abuse powers are known to play a damaging role in the uprising of adolescence, especially damaging to those who are already diagnosed with ADHD as they are scientifically proven to be more susceptible to community criminal records (Laugesen et al. 2017). Abuse of these substances may lead to higher rates of illegal activity, affecting their fight to shape healthy and happy adolescent years. Follow-up studies show that impulse control issues diminish over adolescence for many young girls with ADHD, although inattention remains consistent. Interestingly enough, specifically, females and not males were reported to be only half as alert, the gender gap is attributable perhaps because females tend to be more engaged in everyday adolescence activities. The reverse was seen for anxiety, where young men reportedly suffered anxiety 42% of the time, whereas young females were only reported to suffer anxiety 28% of the time (Whalem et al. 2002). The overall patterns in the research were consistent to show that for the majority of young female teenagers, adolescence is characterized by negative emotions with higher rates of depression and mood disruptions. In addition, ADHD levels were associated with higher caffeine intake, lower water consumption, and specifically lower dairy consumption in females. Reportedly, we can conclude that young girls with ADHD levels are not only at risk for unhealthy dietary habits but also for mood and substance abuse issues. Therefore, there are ongoing studies connecting the idea that some ADHD high teens may use caffeine as a self-medication strategy to enhance mood and attention issues, which are tested by analyzing alertness and mood before and after caffeine intake.
Understanding the hardships and obstacles female teenagers must overcome throughout their childhood into adolescence, and adulthood, the aim to have an inclusive and welcoming community to all points of view and individuals is foreseeable.
Bibliography
Ahlstrom, B-H., and Wentz, E. Difficulties in everyday life: Young persons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders perspectives. QHW. (2014),
Laugesen, B., Lauritsen, M-B., Jorgensen, R., et al. ADHD and Everyday Life: Healthcare as a Significant Lifeline. JPN. (2017),
Whalem, C-K., Jamner, L-D., Henkel, B., et al. The ADHD Spectrum and Everyday Life: Experience Sampling of Adolescent Moods, Activities, Smoking, and Drinking. CD. (2002),