Tactile Defensiveness: More Common in Girls Than in Boys with ADHD

Tactile defensiveness might help identify girls with ADHD.

Some aspects of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differ by sex. The overall prevalence of ADHD is higher in boys, the inattentive type is more common and anxiety coexists more often in girls, and girls often are diagnosed later than boys. Researchers in Europe examined sex differences in tactile defensiveness (TD) — a dysfunction in sensory processing that causes an emotionally negative reaction to touch. Children with TD avoid touch and react to even light touch as threatening; some avoid certain textures or clothing.

Forty-seven children (35 boys, 12 girls; mean age, 9 years) with the combined subtype of ADHD, 36 of their siblings without ADHD, and 35 unrelated control children completed validated questionnaires about daily …

Reviewing Author

Martin T. Stein, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardPearson Neuroscience Advisory Board

Speaker’s bureauAmerican Academy of Pediatrics

RoyaltiesElsevier, Inc.

Editorial boardsJournal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

Martin T. Stein, MD

Disclosures

Consultant / Advisory boardPearson Neuroscience Advisory Board

Speaker’s bureauAmerican Academy of Pediatrics

RoyaltiesElsevier, Inc.

Editorial boardsJournal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics