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Family structure and the gender gap in ADHD

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  • Kelly Bedard

    (University of California Santa Barbara)

  • Allison Witman

    (University of North Carolina Wilmington)

Abstract

We document the large, excess male-female gap in ADHD diagnosis and treatment rates for non-traditional families. Pre-teen boys in traditional families are 2.9 percentage points more likely to have been medicated for ADHD in the past two years than girls in traditional families, while the same gap for non-traditional families is 5.4 percentage points. We also document a similar pattern of boys in non-traditional families for ADHD-related outcomes such as attention span, learning disability, emotional difficulties and unhappiness. Examining alternative pathways to family structure, we rule out typical forms of disadvantage but find that school policies may interact with family structure to increase the male ADHD diagnosis and medication gap. We also highlight an important limitation of the family fixed effects models often used in family structure research, showing that the largest effects are for only children.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelly Bedard & Allison Witman, 2020. "Family structure and the gender gap in ADHD," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1101-1129, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:18:y:2020:i:4:d:10.1007_s11150-019-09476-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-019-09476-9
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    2. Brenøe, Anne Ardila & Lundberg, Shelly, 2018. "Gender gaps in the effects of childhood family environment: Do they persist into adulthood?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 42-62.
    3. Bertoni, M.; & Marin-Lopez, B.A.; & Sanz-de-Galdeano, A.;, 2023. "Subjective Gender-Based Patterns in ADHD Diagnosis," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 23/17, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.

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