Confusing something for something else.

Cason Honea

Communication of Gender and Sexuality

3/24/12

            There was an article this week in class that we had to read for our supplemental readings which was an exerpt from a book titled, The Trouble With Boys, that discussed how boys are more commonly diagnosed with ADHD than girls are. “According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2003, 14 percent of boys across the nation were identified as having ADHD by the time they reached their sixteenth birthday. And the percentage is continuing to grow. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of boys from birth to age nineteen who were being prescribed ADHD medication grew 48 percent”(Tyre Ch. 8). When I first read this statement, it made me think about my brother back when we were kids and how he was on medicine for ADHD when it wasn’t as common, and nowadays, it seems to be somewhat of a growing epidemic. As I continued reading, I remembered learning in class how gender is a product of communication and socialization which is instilled into individuals through family members as well as close friends and even teachers. I then began to assess what appropriate gender norms are in society and began realizing that the reason that boys are more diagnosed with ADHD is because their appropriate gender norm condones more of a rambunctious, aggressive, free spirited sort of behavior. If you really think about it, it all makes sense. From a young age boys are told go out and have fun, be active, be competitive, and be tough, while girls are more socialized in to more reserved behaviors, like learning to cook and clean, and always acting “lady-like” and being polite. So, when you put these factors into the equation, it is easy to see that boys were more socialized into an outgoing and active behavior whereas girls are more socialized into being polite and reserved. I found a question and answer section on addmtc.com, which had a question relating to this topic. The question was why is add/adhd more often diagnosed in boys than is girls. I feel that the answer that was given is somewhat similar to what I was discussing earlier about appropriate gender norms. “ADD/ADHD used to be recognized only as a childhood disorder. ADD/ADHD boys are more likely to be obviously hyperactive and explosive than ADD/ADHD girls, and they are more likely to be recognized and treated by physicians because their problems are more evident and severe. The incidence of ADD/ADHD in my medical practice study population of over thirteen hundred males and females of all ages (from 2 to 82 years old when first diagnosed), however, shows that females are equally as likely as males to have ADD/ADHD. Females are much more likely to be diagnosed in adulthood while males with ADD/ADHD are commonly recognized in the childhood or the teenage years by Pediatricians” (http://www.addmtc.com/boysvsgirls). So, it seems that the problem here is that there is an over diagnosing of ADHD in boys because their more hyper-active, outgoing behavior (which is an excepted normal gender behavior for boys) makes it more easy for them to be candidates for ADHD, even though they might not even have ADHD.

Sources

( http://www.addmtc.com/boysvsgirls)

Tyre, P. (2008) The Trouble With Boys, (Ch.8), Crown Publishers