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→Teenage boys with ADHD have double the amount of sexual partners vs. 'normal' teens: Will add refs later
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Rokeach & Weiner (2014), administering questionnaires on sexual behavior to 58 participants (30 ADHD, 28 TD), found that irrespective of gender, individuals with ADHD reported nearly double the number of lifetime sexual partners as compared to TD participants. Boys with ADHD also reported a two year earlier age of sexual debut as compared to TD boys, with the age of sexual debut between ADHD and TD girls not being significantly different. | Rokeach & Weiner (2014), administering questionnaires on sexual behavior to 58 participants (30 ADHD, 28 TD), found that irrespective of gender, individuals with ADHD reported nearly double the number of lifetime sexual partners as compared to TD participants. Boys with ADHD also reported a two year earlier age of sexual debut as compared to TD boys, with the age of sexual debut between ADHD and TD girls not being significantly different. | ||
A possible explanation for the ADHD boys being more sexually successful than TD males is | <span style="font-size:125%">'''Discussion:'''</span> | ||
A possible explanation for the ADHD boys being more sexually successful than TD males is the overlapping behavioral elements of ADHD and certain aspects of psychopathy, namely boldness, sensation seeking and disinhibition. | |||
Bodalski (2017) reviewed research demonstrating a link between ADHD and general psychopathic affect, supporting this hypothesis. Both conditions also exhibited similar levels of impulsive behavior. However, Bodalski noted that the literature elucidating the possible relationship between the two was scarce. | |||
This link gets even more interesting when broken down via the ADHD subtype because ADHD is often heterogeneous in its symptomology. | |||
There are two main subtypes of ADHD, inattentive or hyperactive and impulsive. While many ADHD patients will exhibit symptoms associated with both subtypes, the inattentive subtype seems characterized mainly by passivity, lack of focus and seeming social withdrawal and disinterest. In contrast, the impulsive subtype seems linked to extraversion, sensation seeking, and socially agentic (forceful, dominant, male-typical) behavior. When considering the influence of ADHD on sexual behaviors, it is crucial to note that some research has indicated that only the impulsive facet is associated with greater short-term mating propensity and success, with the inattentive facet potentially being harmful and maladaptive in this respect. | |||
A study by Canu & Carlson (2003) examined the dating outcomes of men who either exhibited ADHD of the combined type, ADHD men predominately of the inattentive subtype, and healthy control men. | |||
They discovered that men of the inattentive subtype of ADHD showed a "consistent pattern of passivity and (sexual) inexperience". They found that the inattentive subgroup of men experienced typical dating milestones much earlier than the combined group of ADHD men. Despite the small sample size, this effect was large and significant (upon pairwise comparison). | |||
Furthermore, a "heterosocial interaction task" was staged, wherein female research confederates, in this case, female undergrad students, interacted with the subjects and evaluated their romantic desirability. An analysis of this task discovered that the inattentive subtype of ADHD men was evaluated particularly negatively by the women involved in the experiment. This group of men was judged to be the least datable (large effect). A group of other participants, who acted as passive observers of the experimental conversations, evaluated the inattentive subtype of ADHD men as passive, unverbose and unassertive. This experiment controlled for physical attractiveness. | |||
While the group of ADHD men of the combined subtype reported a significantly higher sex drive than the inattentive subtype of ADHD men, the researchers hypothesized that the impulsive, attention-seeking behavior of the combined subtype of ADHD boys might be particularly socially beneficial and attractive to female peers in early puberty, giving these boys [[Matthew effect|a sexual headstart that often snowballs into greater sexual success later in their lives]]. | |||
Meanwhile, the inattentive subgroup of ADHD boys, introverted, passive, and likely perceived as dull due to their lack of ability to focus and (apparent) social disinterest, may have been more likely to be socially ostracized, romantically rejected or otherwise unsuccessful, and thus more likely to miss critical sexual 'milestones', contributing to the higher instance of heterosocial dysfunction in this group of men. While this study was small in scope, it concurs with the findings of other studies that conclude the ADHD-promiscuity link is primarily limited to patients of the combined or impulsive subtypes. Halkett & Hinshaw (2020) investigated the association between kind of ADHD diagnosis and sexual behavior in a group of adolescent girls and discovered that while (unlike what was found with the men in the study mentioned above) both subtypes of ADHD were associated with greater promiscuity, the inattentive type girls had a slightly older age of sexual debut and lower propensity towards engaging in oral sex than the impulsive subtype girls. | |||
Furthermore, Marsh et al. (2012) examined the association between ADHD subtype symptoms and risky sexual behavior in a sample of Chinese and American students. This study found that only the impulsive symptoms of ADHD predicted overall higher levels of promiscuity (anal sex, sex with strangers, casual sex in general), though inattentive symptoms also predicted engagement in certain risky sexual behaviors such as lack of condom use. However, contrary evidence from a Russian study conducted on high-school students suggests that the inattentive symptoms of ADHD also predict risky sexual behaviour (Isakson et al., 2018). This difference may be attributable to the different methodologies used in this study, such as relying on teacher evaluations of symptomatic behavior instead of self-report. Cultural differences, such as a greater tendency towards collectivism in Russia (potentially lessening the social desirability of boisterous and self-enhancing behavior, and so on), may have also influenced the sexual outcomes found in this study differentially by ADHD symptomology. | |||
The median age of the students in the Russian study was also relatively low (median age 14.37), and reported rates of engagement with risky sexual behaviour was also low (24% of males). Few respondents reported having had more than one sex partner (14.1% of males). These results leave open the possibility that the students were too young and sexually inexperienced for distinct ADHD symptomology to exert any significant effect on sexual behavior. | |||
Other research has indicated that the relationships of teenagers with ADHD are characterized by a high rate of turnover and low rates of intimacy; in some cases, this turnover is high enough to limit their sexual success during this period compared to controls, even if they potentially have greater access to romantic partners than control teenagers (Margherio, 2020). | |||
Regardless of the relative influence of ADHD subtypes on sexual outcomes, other research into the broad sexual behavior of people living with ADHD helps elucidate the reasons for their heightened propensity for promiscuity. The literature on the relationship dynamics of ADHD has indicated that the romantic relationships of sufferers are generally characterized by low emotional investment (Marsh, 2021). | |||
Further, ADHD is associated with hypersexuality in both sexes and also with sexual coercion and harassment, particularly in men and boys (Pittman, 2011), together with higher rates of IPV (intimate partner violence) perpetuation (Buitelaar et al., 2019a; Buitelaar et al. 2019b). | |||
When these findings are compared with research strongly linking impulsive behavior to short-term mating success (Charnigo, 2012), this suggests that the heightened [[casual sex|short term mating]] success and lower age at sexual onset among males with ADHD is primarily mediated by a pronounced short-term mating strategy; a strategy characterized by low emotional investment, [[dominance hierarchy|agentic/dominant behavior]], sexual impulsivity, [[extraversion]] (in the case of the hyperactive subtype) and a willingness [[rape|to coerce sexually]] and employ violence to attain or retain sexual partners. | |||
This broad short-term mating orientation closely links ADHD with a [[life history theory|fast life history strategy]], which may help explain why ADHD is primarily a male 'illness' (Waddell & McCarthy, 2010). | |||
This body of evidence suggests that, like certain types of psychopathy, ADHD may be [[evolution|evolutionarily]] adaptive and only pathological in a modern society where the characteristic behaviors linked with ADHD, such as aggression, 'risky behavior', and a high activity level, are considered out of line with modern social expectations and institutions that demand and enforce reasonably domesticated behavior among men. | |||
If the inattentive subtype of ADHD is indeed associated with less sexual and relationship among male sufferers, as the evidence tends to suggest, this may be evidence for a 'failed fast life history' strategy among these men. | |||
That is, these men would likely still be broadly adapted to pursuing short-term mating but would be less able to capitalize on any opportunities to pursue such a strategy due to evolutionary mismatches or behavioral 'deficits' (such as a tendency towards passivity and introversion), in some cases perhaps even contributing to these men's involuntary celibacy. | |||
<span style="font-size:125%">'''Quotes:'''</span> | <span style="font-size:125%">'''Quotes:'''</span> | ||
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* ''Adolescents with ADHD reported having more romantic partners than their typically developing (TD) peers. Females with ADHD were found to have shorter romantic relationships than TD adolescents while males with ADHD reported their age of first intercourse to be nearly 2 years sooner than TD peers. Irrespective of gender, adolescents with ADHD had nearly double the number of lifetime sexual partners.'' (Rokeach & Weiner, 2014) | * ''Adolescents with ADHD reported having more romantic partners than their typically developing (TD) peers. Females with ADHD were found to have shorter romantic relationships than TD adolescents while males with ADHD reported their age of first intercourse to be nearly 2 years sooner than TD peers. Irrespective of gender, adolescents with ADHD had nearly double the number of lifetime sexual partners.'' (Rokeach & Weiner, 2014) | ||
* ''Psychopathy and ADHD both have impulsive elements that may explain overlap of the two. A 2010 study indicated that children with ADHD inattentive type and combined type were rated by teachers as having elevated levels of psychopathic and callous-unemotional traits as well as lower educational performance (DeLisi et al., 2010). In 2013, DeLisi found that children with both ADHD and conduct disorder scored higher than their peers on psychopathic personality features and also noted that thrill-seeking and impulsiveness showed to be the strongest classification variables for delinquency and violent delinquency at the 90th percentiles.'' (Bodalski, 2017) | * ''Psychopathy and ADHD both have impulsive elements that may explain overlap of the two. A 2010 study indicated that children with ADHD inattentive type and combined type were rated by teachers as having elevated levels of psychopathic and callous-unemotional traits as well as lower educational performance (DeLisi et al., 2010). In 2013, DeLisi found that children with both ADHD and conduct disorder scored higher than their peers on psychopathic personality features and also noted that thrill-seeking and impulsiveness showed to be the strongest classification variables for delinquency and violent delinquency at the 90th percentiles.'' (Bodalski, 2017) | ||
<span style="font-size:125%">'''References:'''</span> | <span style="font-size:125%">'''References:'''</span> | ||