ADHD in Children
Visual Abstract
Perceptions of academic skills of children diagnosed with ADHD
Daniel Eisenberg , Helen Schneider
Summarized by:
August 27, 2023
study source
J Atten Disord
May 2007
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What they studied
How do parents and teachers perceive children with ADHD?
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What they found
Children with ADHD struggle more academically and behaviorally. However, girls tend to receive overly negative perceptions relative to their academic performance.
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What this means
Parents and teachers may be overly harsh in their negative perceptions of children with ADHD, particularly for girls.
Perceptions of academic skills of children diagnosed with ADHD
Objectives
This study aimed to examine how parents and teachers view those with ADHD.
ADHD is commonly linked with difficulties at school and home. It leads to kids struggling academically at times and can cause behavioral problems. This can lead to parents and teachers holding negative opinions of children with ADHD. It can also affect their self-esteem.
Study Quote
This study investigates how the academic skills of children diagnosed with ADHD are perceived by teachers, parents, and the children themselves.
Methods
To study this, researchers gathered survey responses from children with ADHD, their parents, and their teachers.
The survey was designed to represent a cross-section of children with ADHD.
Study Quote
The authors analyze data collected for third graders in spring 2002 in the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey. They use linear regressions to estimate independent associations between perceptions of academic abilities and parent-reported ADHD diagnoses, control...
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Results
The results showed that children with ADHD were more likely to face negative perceptions from their parents and teachers. Their parents and teachers felt that they performed worse academically.
They were also more likely to have a learning disability.
Girls in the study were judged even more harshly than boys compared to their academic performance. Girls faced significant negative perceptions from parents and teachers, even after controlling for academic performance.
Study Quote
Results show that for ADHD-diagnosed girls compared to other girls, both parents' and teachers' perceptions are substantially more negative. For ADHD-diagnosed boys, the differentials are also negative but less pronounced. Self-perceptions are not significantly different by ADHD status, ...
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Conclusions
These results show that children with ADHD face significant negative perceptions from parents and teachers. Girls, in particular, face negative perceptions out of proportion to their academic struggles. They were more harshly criticized relative to their actual performance.
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For ADHD-diagnosed girls, we found that parents’ and teachers’ perceptions were substantially more negative, even after adjusting for standardized assessment scores, perceptions of externalizing behavior, and other variables. For boys, differences in perceptions across ADHD diagnosis status were less clear cut overall, but there was evidence for a negative differential in teachers’ perceptions of reading and language performance.
The authors bring up several potential explanations for this. Girls are less likely to get diagnosed with ADHD, which suggests that those who do get diagnosed may have more noticeable symptoms. It’s also possible that ADHD behaviors are seen as less acceptable among girls.
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As a result, ADHD symptoms, or the simple fact that a girl has the diagnosis, may be more noticeable to parents and teachers. ADHD may also be more conspicuous or less accepted for girls because of social expectations about female and male behaviors. Another possible explanation is that ADHD-diagnosed girls are more likely to be of the inattentive but not hyperactive type than ADHD- diagnosed boys
Living with ADHD is already a significant challenge for many. Facing negative perceptions can make things even more difficult.
The study provides evidence that sometimes negative perceptions can be unfairly harsh, particularly when it comes to girls.
Study Quote
Given the potentially damaging effects of these negative perceptions and expectations on self-esteem, motivation, and performance, efforts may be needed to bring perceptions of ADHD children more in line with the abilities they demonstrate on objective assessments.