Dr Jessica Agnew-Blais

Dr Jessica Agnew-Blais’ research investigates the developmental course of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across the life span. This work includes studying how genetic and environmental risk factors are associated with ADHD course, and how functional outcomes are associated with ADHD persistence, remission, and onset. Her current research focuses on ADHD among girls and women, and the role of hormonal fluctuations in functioning among women with ADHD. For many years ADHD was thought of as a childhood disorder that mainly affected boys; but we now know that in adulthood, women make up nearly 50% of the ADHD population. However, because of this outdated idea that ADHD only affects males, ADHD among adult women is often overlooked in research. Dr Agnew-Blais’ current MRC-funded research seeks to address this gap by investigating several important aspects of ADHD among women, including:

1. what features characterise girls who will later show ADHD in adulthood,
2. whether ADHD symptoms increase for some girls in adolescence, and
3. whether menstrual cycle hormonal changes make symptoms worse for women with ADHD.

Dr Agnew-Blais is also actively involved in delivering highest quality postgraduate education for MSc students studying psychology. In particular, her taught module on 'Social and Environmental Influences on Mental Health' is extremely popular and is a great example of research-informed teaching. 

Schemmatic showing methodology for investigating the link between ADHD and Menstruation in adult women