Girls with ADHD show other mental health risks

Girls with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are more likely than their peers to develop depression, anxiety, eating disorders or other psychiatric problems by the time they reach adulthood, a new study suggests.

The study, reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry, followed 187 6- to 18-year-old girls with and without ADHD for 11 years. Over that time, girls with the disorder were more likely to at some point have symptoms of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse or antisocial disorders than girls without ADHD.

The researchers say the study is the first to follow girls with ADHD into adulthood, and the findings mirror what they had previously seen in boys.