Positive Illusory Bias Still Illusory? Investigating Discrepant Self-Perceptions in Girls with ADHD.

Objective: To examine whether girls with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) demonstrate positive illusory self-perceptions during adolescence and young adulthood.

Methods: We tested, across a 5-year longitudinal span, whether self-perceptions versus external-source ratings were more strongly predictive of young adulthood impairment and depressive symptoms. Participants included an ethnically diverse sample of 140 girls with ADHD and 88 comparison girls, aged 11-18 years (M = 14.2) at adolescent and 19-24 years (M = 19.6) at young adult assessment.

Results: Although girls with ADHD rated themselves more positively than indicated by external ratings, their self-reports still did not differ significantly from external ratings in both scholastic competence and social adjustment domains. Comparison girls, on the other hand, rated themselves significantly less positively than indicated by external ratings in social adjustment. Positive discrepancy scores in adolescence did not significantly predict depressive symptoms in young adulthood and vice versa. Crucially, measures of actual competence in adolescence were more strongly associated with young adulthood impairments than were inaccurate self-perceptions for girls with ADHD.

Conclusions: Our findings continue to challenge the existence of a positive illusory bias among girls with ADHD, including any association of such bias with key indicators of impairment.