CUR - The Council on Undergraduate Research

Association Between Gender in Adolescents with ADHD and the Prevalence of Eating Disorders

Gabby Bazil, Laurel Dunathan, Phoebe Gay, Nathaniel Rogers, Lindsay Valentine, Dr. Judith Rodriguez, Hick's Honors College, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Dr, Jacksonville, FL 32224

To examine if the prevalence of eating disorders (ED) among adolescent females with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is higher than that of adolescent males. A literature search was conducted within databases, PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost, and JSTOR. The keywords used in the searches included ADHD, eating disorders, disordered eating, adolescent females, and adolescent males. Selected articles included academic journals and peer-reviewed articles published within the years 2014 – 2020. The articles were analyzed to answer the research question of “Do Adolescent Females with ADHD have Higher Prevalence of Disordered Eating than Adolescent Males with ADHD?” Twenty-two articles were found, of these, 7 fit the criteria. Resources were then summarized and organized based on information relating to the hypothesis. Overall, the statistics in each article varied on whether adolescent females with ADHD have a higher prevalence of ED than males. Four articles suggested that there is no distinction as to whether sex influences the rate of ED in adolescents with ADHD. Two articles supported a higher prevalence in adolescent females. One supported a higher prevalence in adolescent males. The results support the need for more studies to be performed to examine ED prevalence in adolescents with ADHD. The results do not indicate a clear distinction between gender and the prevalence of ED in adolescents with ADHD. 

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