Gender Differences in Self-Reported Symptomatology and Working Memory in College Students with ADHD.

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in self-reported symptomatology and working memory (visuospatial and auditory) in college students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Forty-seven college students with ADHD and 44 non-affected control participants completed two self-report questionnaires and six tests of auditory and visuospatial working memory. For self-report measures, we found significantly larger differences in self-reported inattention and internal restlessness between female participants with and without ADHD than between male participants with and without ADHD. In working memory, regardless of diagnosis, women significantly outperformed men on one test of visuospatial working memory. Women with ADHD had more difficulty than their non-affected peers on one test of auditory working memory but, surprisingly, men with ADHD performed better than their comparison peers on this measure. Our results indicate that gender may interact with an ADHD diagnosis to impact both subjective and objective symptomatology of the disorder.

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