Friendships are an important part of growing up. But not all kids make friends easily. Girls with ADHD can have a hard time making friends. They might have a lot of energy and not be good at taking turns.
Yes, they might have some struggles when it comes to starting and maintaining friendships. This is because many ADHD symptoms can affect our social interactions.
Social Lives of Girls with ADHD
They take things personally and recover more slowly from hurtful interactions. As such, they are at a higher risk for eating disorders and self-harming behaviors. Pay attention to warning signs, such as isolation, shyness, and relentless perfectionism.
Consider team sports. Joining an ADHD-friendly team or organized activity can help children with ADHD realize everything isn't about them. The lessons learned in sports can overflow into their social lives, and you may see your child start to develop healthy friendships. Don't just dive in.
The signs of ADHD in girls are more likely to look like inattention than hyperactivity. Girls with ADHD often don't fit the stereotype of excessive energy. Instead, they have a hard time paying attention, staying organized, and managing their time. People might mistake girls with ADHD for just being spacey or lazy.
A girl with ADHD may have impulsivity and be hyper-talkative. She may be verbally impulsive, interrupt others, talk excessively, or change topics repeatedly during conversations. She might even blurt out words without thinking about their impact on others. Girls with ADHD can also be overly sensitive.
While girls generally mature faster than boys, girls with ADHD experience significant lags in social and emotional maturity compared to non-ADHD peers. Many girls with ADHD tend to be hyper-talkative, hyper-social, and hyper-emotional, rather than hyperactive.
The problem: The social maturity of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD) may be a few years behind that of their peers. In addition, they have difficulty reading verbal and physical social cues, misinterpreting remarks, or not getting jokes or games.
Having trouble with friendships also can be a sign of depression, a learning disability, stress, or even bullying. Not being able to make and keep friends can be an important clue that your child needs help from a medical professional.
The Social Immaturity factor was composed of items that are not what one might typically expect to be prototypical of the ADHD child: clingy, preferring younger children, clumsy, and acting young, which may overlap with the social deficits of PDD.
With girls, inattentive ADHD is the most common.
Making friends can be particularly difficult for girls with ADHD. Hyperactive and impulsive girls sometimes have trouble taking turns or not getting their way. They might be too loud and aggressive, or just seem immature to other girls their age.
Individuals with ADHD who require solitude do not necessarily feel lonely or disconnected from others. Instead, they require alone time to manage their symptoms effectively and engage in activities that promote their mental health.
Kids with ADHD have friendship trouble for all sorts of reasons. Some simply aren't good listeners. Others drive away potential friends by their impulsivity — blurting out unkind comments, for example. A mom in Hawaii says her “mother hen” daughter alienates other children by trying to micromanage their lives.
There are some women with ADD who have successfully compensated for their ADD, but the price they pay is to expend most of their waking energy combating their natural tendency to be disorganized. Many women with ADD feel a powerful sense of shame and inadequacy. They feel constantly behind, overwhelmed and frazzled.
ADHD is not the kiss of death. The condition, alone, can't make or break a romantic relationship. But, if symptoms of attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) are not properly acknowledged, treated, and accepted, they can — and often do — create or exacerbate marital tensions.
During the early stages of a relationship, the partner affected by ADHD can focus intensely on the romance and the new partner. This sends the message that the new partner is the center of the person's world. It typically generates feelings of connection, love and validation, and the relationship seems to grow quickly.
ADHD may result in some symptoms that can make a person “socially clumsy.” If you often find yourself saying and doing inappropriate things during conversations, you might be experiencing social awkwardness.
It is not difficult to understand the reasons why individuals with ADHD often struggle in social situations. Interacting successfully with peers and significant adults is one of the most important aspects of a child's development, yet 50 to 60 percent of children with ADHD have difficulty with peer relationships.
Be on the lookout for nonverbal clues.
These include body language, such as moving away from you, cutting conversations short, or crossing their arms or legs. Also note facial expressions, such as red faces, scowls, tight lips, or hurt or angry eyes.
ADHD and empathy doesn't have to be a relationship killer. As we've discussed, unfortunately, many people with ADHD tend to have a lack of empathy. This can be addressed, though, through identifying and communicating about each other's feelings.
Similarly, people with ADHD can also experience 'meltdowns' more commonly than others, which is where emotions build up so extremely that someone acts out, often crying, angering, laughing, yelling and moving all at once, driven by many different emotions at once – this essentially resembles a child tantrum and can ...
This is especially true for girls and women with inattentive ADHD. Girls may be more quiet and passive than those who don't have the disorder, and thus don't stand out in the classroom.