A new study has concluded that girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) benefit more from sports than boys. It showed that the physically active girls show improvement in their hyperactivity and attentiveness over the years.
The study that was recently published in Preventative Medicine was conducted based on the inputs of parents of 991 girls and 1006 boys with ADHD. The kids who were involved in a team sport requiring a coach between the ages of 6 and 10 were then rated by their teachers on their behavioral traits when they were aged 12.
While analyzing the data, the researcher found that the girls involved in sports during middle childhood showed marked improvement in their behavior during adolescence. Boys, on the other hand, didn’t seem to benefit in terms of their behavioral tendencies much from being physically active.
The researchers also found out a few interesting contrasts in how the condition is handled by the parents in a child based on gender. They realized that since boys with ADHD have worse impulse control than girls, they were more likely to get the necessary attention and treatment at an earlier stage than girls, mostly before they turn 10.
This factor, they said, could account for sports not being as beneficial for boys as for girls. It could also account for the condition remaining undiagnosed in most girls till much later in life. When the behavior starts to decline in girls, it is often seen as a part of teenage angst, said the researchers.
