Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282761 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16634
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The increasing incidence of ADHD diagnosis and its uneven prevalence across demographic groups has sparked debates about misdiagnosis. We use data on individuals' genetic predisposition to ADHD from the Add Health survey of U.S. schools to uncover relative standards in ADHD diagnosis. We estimate that students' ordinal rank in the genetic predisposition to ADHD among their same-gender school peers has a positive, statistically significant, and substantial causal effect on ADHD diagnosis, holding students' own genetic predisposition to ADHD constant. This effect is mainly driven by boys, contributing to explain the observed higher rate of diagnosis for boys relative to girls.
Subjects: 
mental health
ADHD
gender
ADHD polygenic scores
interpersonal comparisons
subjective diagnosis
JEL: 
I10
I21
J24
J13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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