Symptom Tests for Adults
[Self-Test] ADHD Symptoms in Women and Girls
Symptoms of ADHD and ADD often manifest differently in men and women, many of whom grew up being called lazy or dumb while inattentive attention deficit was ignored or mislabeled as hormones or anxiety. Take this self-test to see if you exhibit the symptoms of ADD most common in women and girls. Then share the results with your doctor to seek a diagnosis.
Medically reviewed by ADDitude’s ADHD Medical Review Panel
Symptoms of ADHD or ADD in Women
Attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) is not gender biased. ADHD symptoms exist almost as often in girls as they do in boys, and the majority of kids with ADHD never outgrow it. What’s more, scientific research strongly suggests that ADHD is hereditary. Which means that, if you are the mother of a child with attention and impulsivity problems, you may have ADHD, too.
[Related Self-Test: Inattentive ADD Symptoms in Adults]
This comes as a surprise to many women who assume that ADHD is a diagnosis for hyper little boys. Indeed, it is not. ADHD in adults is very real; and ADHD diagnoses among women are on the rise.
According to the 5th edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, ADHD symptoms may fall into three categories: predominantly hyperactive, predominantly inattentive, and combined type. Inattentive ADHD symptoms are still often misunderstood and misdiagnosed by medical professionals who mistake them for stress, anxiety, or another related condition. Inattentive ADHD is also more common in girls and women than it is in boys and men.
If you suspect that you or your daughter have symptoms of ADHD, complete the free female ADHD test below and share the results with a health care professional — the only person who can diagnose ADHD.
[Related Self-Test: The ADHD Test for Girls]
NOTE: This self-test is not intended to diagnose or to replace the care of a health care professional. Only a doctor or mental health professional can diagnose ADHD based on clinical evaluation.
Sari Solden, M.S., LMFT, is a member of the ADDitude ADHD Medical Review Panel.
Can’t see the self-test questions above? Click here to open this test in a new window.
What To Do Next:
1. Take this Test: Inattentive ADD Symptoms in Adults
2. Take this Test: Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria Symptoms in Adults
3. Take this Test: Full ADHD Symptom Test for Adults
4. Download: Free Resource for Women and Girls: Do I Have ADHD?
5. Research: What ADD Looks Like In Women
6. Listen to “The Happiness Project for Women with ADHD” – an Expert Webinar with Sari Solden M.S., LMFT
7. Read More About Women, Hormones, and ADHD
Updated on July 8, 2019
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I see my answers to the questions, but no test results. Am I missing the result area?
For two years CPS harassed and stalked me, showing up whenever to inspect my house for it being messy. They made me quit my Masters degree to stay home and clean my house. Then chastised me for not having a job. I almost had my children taken away. Nobody understood. At the time, I was also writing a screenplay which I did not dare tell them about for fear of them making me quit that. They scarred my children emotionally. Even now if there’s a knock at the door we have a twinge of anxiety and it’s almost two decades later. I wish I could sue them. They labeled me as a bad, neglectful mother and accused me of doing drugs or drinking. Meanwhile, I was working my butt off to better our lives! It was like forcing someone with a broken leg run a marathon. I wish I could sue them because we are still traumatized. If it weren’t for my psychiatrist at the time, I’m sure I would have lost my children. She argued with the ignorant uneducated ‘social workers’ that they knew nothing about my afflictions. They promised her they wouldn’t threaten me with taking my children away, but then threatened me. Of course I went back and told her. She then wrote a letter to them stating that she has never in her 15 years of treating seen any evidence of emotional, physical or sexual abuse. And no substance abuse. She said I was extremely involved in my children’s lives and care for them dearly. And she’d be willing to go to court and say that. Still, they harassed us for another year or so until we finally moved from the neighbourhood we were in. Turns out CPS was having my landlord come in to our apartment whilst we weren’t home and take photos and they had the school reporting on all my children’s behaviour without my knowledge. They also interviewed my neighbours and asked them (ordered them) to report back or they’d be charged. It was complete Nazism in modern times. My doctor and I have since parted ways, but I will never forget how she fought for me when we were all alone. She also taught us how to stand up for ourselves.