Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Stacey Wood

Reader 2

Jose Arreola

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Abstract

Teachers are more likely to detect hyperactive ADHD symptoms than inattentive ones, which often results in students, especially girls with inattentive symptoms, being under-referred (Willcut, 2012). This study evaluates whether a targeted, inattentive-focused, and gender responsive teacher training reduces gendered and symptom-based biases in referral decisions. K-5 teachers will be randomly assigned to receive either standard general ADHD identification training or an inattentive-focused, gender-responsive training, and will then be asked to review vignettes depicting children with hyperactive and inattentive symptoms, with varying student genders. Referral accuracy and knowledge of ADHD will be measured. Training condition, symptom presentation, and student gender are expected to significantly influence identification patterns, with girls/AFAB (assigned female at birth) students identified least often, followed by inattentive boys/AMAB (assigned male at birth) students, then hyperactive girls, and hyperactive boys showing the highest referral rates. Teachers who receive the inattentive-focused training are expected to show increased accuracy across the different conditions and reduced gender gaps in their referral patterns compared to their counterparts who received general training.

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