A longitudinal study of girls with ADHD has uncovered many commonalities, such as tendencies to internalize their struggles and self-harm and specific changes in personality over time.
One of the most recent examinations of the data, which has been collected since the 1990s, notes that adults in these girls’ lives start reporting negative behavior characteristics as the girls hit adolescence. Specifically, girls with ADHD are shown to become less agreeable and less conscientious.
The authors of this study noticed another correlation, though, with family income — and it may not be what you’d expect.
These Personality Changes Appear On Adolescent Assessments
As these girls age, they undergo the Big Five Inventory assessment. It examines five personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, openness to new experiences, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
Girls with ADHD in the study scored higher on neuroticism and lower on agreeableness and conscientiousness. These scores correlated with higher scores on inattentiveness and hyperactivity, according to Psypost.
There are some easy conclusions to draw from these results, such as that low levels of attention and high levels of hyperactivity can make individuals struggle to notice some of the social cues that help them behave in agreeable and conscientious ways.
However, another correlation stood out.
Girls From Higher-Income Families Had One Strong Correlation
Girls who show these particular traits tend to develop negative self-images. When asked to describe their personalities, they are harsh in their description of themselves.
These negative self-views can be easily linked to these personality traits, resulting in negative interactions with peers, teachers, and families. However, the authors noted that these negative self-views correlated more strongly with higher-income families.
The authors of the study consider a few factors. First, since most personality research is done on college students, they note that higher-income families are inherently disproportionately represented, and they suggest that more studies need to examine sample groups for low and middle-income families.
Their theory is that higher pressure in higher-income families may be a significant factor.
Investigators Consider How Higher-Income Families Affect Negative Self-Views
Investigators examined the data for correlation with race and ethnicity, noting that these socioeconomic factors can be intertwined, but found no direct correlation between race/ethnicity and these negative self-views.
Instead, they explain in a paper published in Springer Nature, the authors considered known links between a “culture of affluence” and psychological struggles including depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. They theorize:
“Core mechanisms may include high familial pressure to achieve academic/extracurricular success, a tendency to derive self-worth from one’s achievements, poor-quality parent–child relationships, and youth perceptions that parents value them more for achievements than for who they are as people (see Luthar, 2003). Although our findings are clearly exploratory, it is possible that relatively higher family socioeconomic status may enhance predictive associations between childhood ADHD and adolescent personality maladjustment.”
What Does This Mean For ADHD Girls?
For now, there’s not a clear outcome.
This data suggests that more investigation is needed to confirm why this correlation exists and whether it remains as strong when larger and more diverse population samples are examined.
Instead, it offers a hint at something that could be bubbling under the surface for girls with ADHD, especially (but not only) those from families with higher income levels.
The authors also note one serious limitation of their study: no personality measures were collected on these kids at the beginning of the longitudinal study. When UC Berkley began collecting the data in the 1990s, they explained that there was limited understanding of the validity of self-reported personality measures.
Further longitudinal studies may adjust for this and help researchers examine long-term changes.
What Does It All Mean For Parents?
Unfortunately, this research doesn’t give parents any full-blown solutions, just some tips that may help.
For parents at any income level, this research suggests we should ensure our expectations for our kids are tailored to their abilities. If our kids, especially those with ADHD, feel constantly pressured to meet demands that are outside their capabilities, it has adverse effects.
We should also clearly communicate our expectations to our kids and listen to their feelings about their abilities.
Ensure your kids know you don’t expect them to burn themselves out. Neurodivergent kids can hear “do your best” or “give it your all” and think that this means they should expend every ounce of energy and capability they have on a single math test (for example), even if it leaves them with no energy left for other subjects or for carrying out such self-care tasks as eating and sleeping.
While we wait for more research and information, we can support our kids best through clear communication and by ensuring they know their value as human beings doesn’t depend on their academic performance or executive functioning skills.
