Are boys really more likely to have ADHD than girls?

I had heard this previously from a friend and was wondering if there is any truth to it.

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Oh believe me I think it's over-diagnosed as well, but I do know that many children truly do have this disorder. But yes I do agree that many parents of unruly, ill-mannered children use ADHD as an excuse for the child(ren)'s behavior when in fact the problem is that there is no discipline in the home.

Some of the older studies support that conclusion. However many children are misdiagnosed so I would challenge the statistics of any criteria one way or another on the issue. I think realistically it has little to do with gender. And until we have a uniform accurate testing criteria across the medical industry I wouldn't put much faith in statistics about gender in regards to behavioral disorders. Then again, I don't put much faith in the statistics of "medication" being a wonderful remedy or cure either. And a lot of studies of children with ADHD support that theory as well.

EDIT: I should have added I do have a child with ADHD, ODD and OCD. And i refuse to use medication to treat it. He needs a firm hand and realistic expectations to help him learn to function with his issues. He doesn't need a pill to cure him. While more boys may be diagnosed that doesn't mean more boys have ADHD.

Well, ADHD is, IMO, way over-diagnosed. Any time a parent (or teacher) has a problem disciplining kids and making them sit still for any period of time, they are quick to say it is ADD or ADHD.

And, because boys are more wired to be hands-on and active (according to the research, though girls can be too), they are more likely to be labeled as such.

As a teacher, I get a long list every year of which kids have ADD or ADHD, and honestly, of the 15-20 kids I get each year (high school teacher, 6 classes), only one or maybe two each year TRULY have ADD or ADHD... The rest are cases of kids just being more spirited, or doctors who are quick to give kids a drug to fix a problem that is easily fixed through better discipline.

It depends. I think the vast majority of "ADHD" children are just normal kids who have their own energy level, which is simply higher than other children.
Boys in general are more physically active and energetic, but I refuse to label them with these ugly terms because most of the time they are NOT "ADHD", they just need more activity, and that does include mental activity...
Why I am so gunshy about the whole terms is because we are drugging children younger and younger due to them just being who they are, and their parents just don't want to deal with their activity level.

My son was diagnosed with ADHD. I did not believe it though. I think ADHD is just the system (schools) and their parents, compaining of bored kids in the system and having them pumped with drugs to slow them down.

My true thoughts are that the schools and parents are not challenging their students (mostly boys). If you look at the statistics, a high percentage of the students diagnosed with ADHD have higher IQ. These kids are just bored. Challenge them with bigger tasks. Tasks that keep them interested.

But yes, boys do tend to be diagnosed more than girls. This may be because boys will be more unruley or aggresive.

They are more likely to be diagnosed but not more likely to have it.

Boys are usually, not always, taught by their parents at an early age that they are ALLOWED to act up. The little boys always hear "He does that because he is a boy"--that gives them full permission to act wild. By the time they start school they don't know how to behave so the teacher labels them as ADHD.

It's not the teachers fault the kids are being sent to school like this.

No i don't think that its true. Its just the way we raise kids. Its the tendency of Americans to raise boys more reckless and less focused on stuff than girls because we think that boys should be rougher, tougher, more distracted. And besides, the ADD/ADHD is bullcrap. Its another way of saying that a kid is being a kid again.

Yes it is true, here in England it is not easy to get a diagnosis but it is harder for girls. I had a terrible time growing up and my doctor finally diagnosed me ad ADHD at 10 and I flew through school, even doing my G.C.S.E's two years early.
My doctor even admitted to me that she had stalled in diagnosing me due to this fact.

Yes, there's a bigger propensity for males. Just as males have more trouble learning to read, too. It has to do with the brain development -
http://newideas.net/adhd-research-boys
http://borntoexplore.org/boys.htm
http://www.umm.edu/pediatric-info/add.ht...

Yes, that is true.