Girls with ADHD More Likely Than Boys to Abuse Alcohol or Drugs

A new study suggests that girls with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely than boys with ADHD to abuse drugs and alcohol.

UPI reports that the Finnish study included 1,545 teens, and found that ADHD symptoms were less common among girls than among boys. Among girls, but not boys, having ADHD symptoms at age 11 or 12 was a significant predictor of alcohol abuse and dependence and illegal drug use at age 14.

By age 17 ½, parents’ reports of teens’ inattentiveness and hyperactivity were significant predictors of frequent alcohol use in both boys and girls, but the findings were more predictive in girls.

The study was presented this week at the symposium of European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Helsinki, Finland by researchers at the University of Helsinki and University of Jyväskylä, Finland.