Selective Females Affliction in the Developmental Disorders of Childhood: A Literature Review

Abstract

Reviewed the literature regarding the putative finding that in the developmental disorders of childhood there is the paradox that the sex least frequently affected by a disorder (female) is the relatively more severely afflicted. Two major models that have sought to explain this paradox—the polygenetic multiple-threshold model and the constitutional variability model—are examined in the context of the following, disorders: autism, mental retardation, learning disability, conduct disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Only modest support was found for this hypothesis as well as for the respective models.