Exploring ADHD stereotypes in the British press over time: from disruptive boys to contested diagnosis

Vilar Lluch, Sara ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5495-9386 and Price, Hazel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6000-4810 2026. Exploring ADHD stereotypes in the British press over time: from disruptive boys to contested diagnosis. Kondo, Kayo, Vilar Lluch, Sara, Tsimpiri, Maria, Zhou, Taochen and Musolff, Andreas, eds. Discourses of Inclusive and Exclusionary Health Communication Healthcare, Language, and Inclusivity, Vol. 1. Routledge Studies in Language, Health and Culture, Routledge, pp. 64-81. (10.4324/9781003499534-6)

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

News media is well-recognised as a primary disseminator of medical information with an instrumental role in shaping public attitudes and understandings. We examine how British national and local media portray Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a corpus of articles published between 1997 and 2013 totalling 283,945 words. The corpus covers three main stages of ADHD history in the United Kingdom: prior childhood ADHD recognition by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (1997-1999); NICE recognition of childhood but not adult ADHD (2000-2007); and NICE recognition of adult ADHD onwards (2008-2013). The longitudinal analysis evidences a shift towards medical discourse (and subsequent reduction in press misunderstandings) as well as an increase of societal contestation of ADHD validity as a medical condition in both childhood and adulthood, and public outcry against the use of psychostimulants to manage ADHD-related everyday difficulties. Associations of ADHD with childhood, males and disruptive behaviour are salient throughout the three stages, contributing to enforce prevalent stereotypes. The analysis further evidence that medical legitimacy is sine qua non of support provision, leading individuals who experience contested conditions (e.g. adult ADHD in the corpus) to adopt strong medical discourses to access social support services.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Publisher:	Routledge
ISBN:	9781032813790
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	10 March 2026
Last Modified:	11 Mar 2026 10:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/185672

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item