Progress in gender differences and mechanisms of executive function in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

HU Yiting, JIANG Kewen

Chinese Journal of Child Health Care ›› 2024, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (6) : 648-652.

PDF(473 KB)
PDF(473 KB)
Chinese Journal of Child Health Care ›› 2024, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (6) : 648-652. DOI: 10.11852/zgetbjzz2024-0103
Review

Progress in gender differences and mechanisms of executive function in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

  • HU Yiting, JIANG Kewen
Author information +
History +

Abstract

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have significant gender differences in incidence rate, symptoms and prognosis. One of the main characteristics of ADHD children's cognitive impairment is executive function (EF) impairment. This article reviews the research on gender differences and mechanisms of ADHD children's EF in recent years, and finds that there are significant gender differences in ADHD children's EF, mainly reflected in inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, hot EF. But the research results are different. Little is known about the mechanism of gender differences in EF, which is mainly limited to the differences in brain functional areas, such as the primary motor cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, basal ganglia, amygdala (positive/negative functional connection), and frontal cerebellar circuit, and there is little in-depth research.

Key words

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder / executive function / gender difference

Cite this article

Download Citations
HU Yiting, JIANG Kewen. Progress in gender differences and mechanisms of executive function in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder[J]. Chinese Journal of Child Health Care. 2024, 32(6): 648-652 https://doi.org/10.11852/zgetbjzz2024-0103

References

[1] Tsujii N, Okada T, Usami M, et al. Effect of continuing and discontinuing medications on quality of life after symptomatic remission in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review and Meta-analysis[J]. J Clin Psychiatry, 2020, 81(3): 19.
[2] Krauss A, Schellenberg C. ADHD symptoms and health-related quality of life of adolescents and young adults[J]. Eur J Health Psychol, 2022, 29(4): 165-174.
[3] Cortese S, Song MJ, Farhat LC, et al. Incidence, prevalence, and global burden of ADHD from 1990 to 2019 across 204 countries:Data, with critical re-analysis, from the Global Burden of Disease study[J]. Mol Psychiatry, 2023, 28(11): 4823-4830.
[4] Carbonneau ML, Demers M, Bigras M, et al. Meta-analysis of sex differences in ADHD symptoms and associated cognitive deficits[J]. J Atten Disord, 2021, 25(12): 1640-1656.
[5] Dolores Munoz-Suazo M, Navarro-Munoz J, Diaz-Roman A, et al. Parenting practices among parents of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Gender-related differences[J]. J Clin Psychol, 2020, 76(1): 239-245.
[6] Lau TWI, Lim CG, Acharryya S, et al. Gender differences in externalizing and internalizing problems in Singaporean children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder[J]. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health, 2021, 15(1): 3.
[7] Gilbert M, Boecker M, Reiss F, et al. Gender and age differences in ADHD symptoms and co-occurring depression and anxiety symptoms among children and adolescents in the BELLA Study[J]. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev, 2023.doi:10.1007/s10578-023-01622_w.
[8] 杜亚松, 曹阳, 江文庆. 注意缺陷多动障碍儿童的执行功能[J]. 中国儿童保健杂志, 2019, 27(5): 465-472.
Du YS, Cao Y, Jiang WQ. Executive function in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder[J]. Chin J Child Health Care, 2019, 27 (5): 465-472. (in Chinese)
[9] Barkley RA. Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD[J]. Psychol Bull, 1997, 121(1): 65-94.
[10] Dai DWT, Brown GTL, Franke N, et al. Stability of executive function in children born at risk of neonatal hypoglycemia[J]. Child Neuropsychol, 2023,27:1-20.
[11] Diamond A. Executive functions[J]. Annu Rev Psychol, 2013, 64: 135-168.
[12] Moriguchi Y, Phillips S. Evaluating the distinction between cool and hot executive function during childhood[J]. Brain Sci, 2023, 13(2): 313.
[13] Skogli EW, Andersen PN, Hovik KT,et al. Development of hot and cold executive function in boys and girls with ADHD: A 2-year longitudinal study[J]. J Atten Disord, 2017, 21(4): 305-315.
[14] Okayasu M, Inukai T, Tanaka D, et al. The Stroop effect involves an excitatory-inhibitory fronto-cerebellar loop[J]. Nat Commun, 2023, 14(1): 27.
[15] Tarle SJ, Alderson RM, Patros CHG, et al. Working memory and behavioral inhibition in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): An examination of varied central executive demands, construct overlap, and task impurity[J]. Child Neuropsychol, 2019, 25(5): 664-687.
[16] Albaladejo-Garcia C, Garcia-Aguilar F, Moreno FJ. The role of inhibitory control in sport performance: Systematic review and meta-analysis in stop-signal paradigm[J]. Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 2023,147:105-108.
[17] Sadeghi S, Shalani B, Nejati V. Sex and age-related differences in inhibitory control in typically developing children[J]. Early Child Dev Care, 2022, 192(2): 292-301.
[18] Mcveigh C, Wylie J, Mulhern G. Verbal and visuospatial working memory in immersion-educated bilingual children[J]. Int J Biling Educ Biling, 2019, 22(4): 505-517.
[19] Frick A, Fay S, Bouazzaoui B, et al. The respective contribution of cognitive control and working memory to semantic and subjective organization in aging[J]. Psychol Aging, 2023, 38(5): 455-467.
[20] Jones MR, Katz B, Buschkuehl M, et al. Exploring N-Back cognitive training for children with ADHD[J]. J Atten Disord, 2020, 24(5): 704-719.
[21] Frost A, Moussaoui S, Kaur J, et al. Is the n-back task a measure of unstructured working memory capacity? Towards understanding its connection to other working memory tasks[J]. Acta Psychol, 2021,219:103398.
[22] Ma F, Zeng D, Xu F, et al. Delay of gratification as reputation management[J]. Psychol Sci, 2020, 31(9): 1174-1182.
[23] Enke S, Gunzenhauser C, Johann VE, et al. "Hot" executive functions are comparable across monolingual and bilingual elementary school children: Results from a study with the Iowa Gambling Task[J]. Front Psychol, 2022,6:13.
[24] Orm S, Pollak Y, Fossum IN, et al. Decision-making and risky behavior in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A 10-year longitudinal study[J]. Dev Neuropsychol, 2022, 47(4): 193-209.
[25] Szczesniewska P, Hanc T, Bryl E, et al. Do hot executive functions relate to BMI and body composition in school age children?[J]. Brain Sci, 2021, 11(6): 780.
[26] Seymour KE, Mostofsky SH, Rosch KS. Cognitive load differentially impacts response control in girls and boys with ADHD[J]. J Abnorm Child Psychol, 2016, 44(1): 141-154.
[27] Skogli EW, Teicher MH, Andersen PN, et al. ADHD in girls and boys-gender differences in co-existing symptoms and executive function measures[J]. BMC Psychiatry, 2013,9: 13.
[28] Mowlem F, Agnew-Blais J, Taylor E, et al. Do different factors influence whether girls versus boys meet ADHD diagnostic criteria? Sex differences among children with high ADHD symptoms[J]. Psychiatry Res, 2019, 272: 765-773.
[29] Gaub M, Carlson CL. Gender differences in ADHD: A Meta-analysis and critical review[J]. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 1997, 36(8): 1036-1045.
[30] Rucklidge J J. Gender differences in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder[J]. Psychiatr Clin North Am, 2010, 33(2): 357-373.
[31] Carucci S, Narducci C, Bazzoni M, et al. Clinical characteristics, neuroimaging findings, and neuropsychological functioning in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: Sex differences[J]. J Neurosci Res, 2023, 101(5): 704-717.
[32] Lenroot RK, Gogtay N, Greenstein DK, et al. Sexual dimorphism of brain developmental trajectories during childhood and adolescence[J]. Neuroimage, 2007, 36(4): 1065-1073.
[33] Dirlikov B, Rosch KS, Crocetti D, et al. Distinct frontal lobe morphology in girls and boys with ADHD[J]. NeuroImage Clin, 2014, 7: 222-229.
[34] Peterson RK, Duvall P, Crocetti D, et al. ADHD-related sex differences in frontal lobe white matter microstructure and associations with response control under conditions of varying cognitive load and motivational contingencies[J]. Brain Imaging Behav, 2023, 17(6): 674-688.
[35] Menon V. 20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis[J]. Neuron, 2023, 111(16): 2469-2487.
[36] De Lacy N, Mccauley E, Kutz JN, et al. Multilevel mapping of sexual dimorphism in intrinsic functional brain networks[J]. Front Neurosci, 2019, 13:332.
[37] Eliot L, Ahmed A, Khan H, et al. Dump the dimorphism: Comprehensive synthesis of human brain studies reveals few male-female differences beyond size[J]. Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 2021, 125: 667-697.
[38] Wu K, Taki Y, Sato K, et al. Topological Organization of functional brain networks in healthy children: Differences in relation to age, sex, and intelligence[J]. PLoS One, 2013, 8(2): e55347.
[39] Nebli A, Rekik I. Gender differences in cortical morphological networks[J]. Brain Imag Behav, 2020, 14(5): 1831-1839.
[40] Cole WR, Mostofsky SH, Larson JC, et al. Age-related changes in motor subtle signs among girls and boys with ADHD[J]. Neurology, 2009, 71(19): 1514-1520.
[41] Crasta JE, Zhao Y, Seymour KE, et al. Developmental trajectory of subtle motor signs in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A longitudinal study from childhood to adolescence[J]. Child Neuropsychol, 2021, 27(3): 317-332.
[42] Jacobson LA, Peterson DJ, Rosch KS, et al. Sex-based dissociation of white matter microstructure in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder[J]. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 2015, 54(11): 938-946.
[43] Mahone EM, Mostofsky SH, Lasker AG, et al. Oculomotor anomalies in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Evidence for deficits in response preparation and inhibition[J]. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 2009, 48(7): 749-756.
[44] Usai MC. Inhibitory abilities in girls and boys: More similarities or differences?[J]. J Neurosci Res, 2023, 101(5): 689-703.
[45] Mahone EM, Denckla MB. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A historical neuropsychological perspective[J]. J Int Neuropsychol Soc, 2017, 23(9-10): 916-929.
[46] Miller M, Loya F, Hinshaw SP. Executive functions in girls with and without childhood ADHD: Developmental trajectories and associations with symptom change[J]. J Clin Psychiatry, 2013, 54(9): 1005-1015.
[47] Qiu A, Crocetti D, Adler M, et al. Basal ganglia volume and shape in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder[J]. Am J Psychiatry, 2009, 166(1): 74-82.
[48] Tang X, Seymour KE, Crocetti D, et al. Response control correlates of anomalous basal ganglia morphology in boys, but not girls, with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder[J]. Behav Brain Res, 2019, 367: 117-127.
[49] Seymour KE, Tang X, Crocetti D, et al. Anomalous subcortical morphology in boys, but not girls, with ADHD compared to typically developing controls and correlates with emotion dysregulation[J]. Psychiatry Res Neuroimag, 2017, 261: 20-28.
[50] Rosch KS, Mostofsky SH, Nebel MB. ADHD-related sex differences in fronto-subcortical intrinsic functional connectivity and associations with delay discounting[J]. J Neurodev Disord, 2018, 10(1): 34.
[51] O′brien JW, Dowell LR, Mostofsky SH, et al. Neuropsychological profile of executive function in girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder[J]. Arch Clin Neuropsychol, 2010, 25(7): 656-670.
[52] Pauli-Pott U, Skoluda N, Nater UM, et al. Long-term cortisol secretion in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Roles of sex, comorbidity, and symptom presentation[J]. Eur Child Adolesc Psych, 2024,33(2):569-579.
[53] Mann C, Schloβ S, Cosan A, et al. Hair cortisol concentration and neurocognitive functions in preschool children at risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder[J]. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2021, 131: 105322.
[54] Durston S, Davidson MC, Mulder MJ, et al. Neural and behavioral correlates of expectancy violations in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder[J]. J Clin Psychiatry, 2007, 48(9): 881-889.
[55] Poissant H, Rapin L, Chenail S, et al. Forethought in youth with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: An fMRI study of sex-specific differences[J]. J Neurodev Disord, 2016, 2016: 6810215.
[56] Patros CHG, Sweeney KL, Mahone EM, et al. Greater delay discounting among girls, but not boys, with ADHD correlates with cognitive control[J]. Child Neuropsychol, 2018, 24(8): 1026-1046.
[57] Rosch KS, Dirlikov B, Mostofsky SH. Reduced intrasubject variability with reinforcement in boys, but not girls, with ADHD: Associations with prefrontal anatomy[J]. Biol Psychol, 2015, 110: 12-23.
PDF(473 KB)

Accesses

Citation

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/