ABSTRACT

Objective: Completing a college degree is associated with success in employment, financial earnings, and life satisfaction. Mental health difficulties, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can compromise degree completion.

Method: We examined 4-year academic performance trajectories of 201 college students with ADHD (97 receiving medication [ADHD-Med], 104 not receiving medication [ADHD-NoMed]) relative to 205 non-ADHD Comparison students. Demographic (e.g., sex, race/ethnicity), psychological (e.g., self-reported depression and anxiety symptoms), and service-related (e.g., receipt of academic support) variables were included as predictors of intercept (i.e., Year 1 performance) and slope (yearly change) of semester GPA, progress toward graduation, and self-reported study skill strategies.

Results: College students with ADHD obtained significantly lower GPAs (Hedge’s g = −0.46 and −0.63) and reported less frequent use of study skills strategies (Hedge’s g range from −1.00 to −2.28) than Comparison students. Significantly more Comparison students (59.1%) persisted through eight semesters relative to ADHD-NoMed students (49%). Multiple variables predicted outcomes with parent education, fewer depressive symptoms, better executive functioning, and receipt of high school Section 504 accommodations and college academic support services among the strongest predictors.

Conclusions: Findings suggest support services for students with ADHD should begin prior to college matriculation and focus on improving executive functioning skills and depressive symptoms to increase chances of academic success.

摘要

目标：完成大学学位与就业、财务收入和生活满意度有关。心理健康问题，包括注意力缺陷/多动障碍 (ADHD)，可能会影响学位完成。

方法：我们检查了 201 名患有 ADHD 的大学生（97 名接受药物治疗 [ADHD-Med]，104 名未接受药物治疗 [ADHD-NoMed]）相对于 205 名非 ADHD 比较学生的 4 年学习成绩轨迹。人口统计（例如，性别、种族/民族）、心理（例如，自我报告的抑郁和焦虑症状）和服务相关（例如，接受学术支持）变量被包括作为截距的预测因子（即，第一年的表现）和学期 GPA 的斜率（每年变化）、毕业进度以及自我报告的学习技能策略。

结果：与对照学生相比，患有 ADHD 的大学生获得的 GPA 显着降低（Hedge's g = -0.46 和 -0.63），并且报告的学习技能策略使用频率较低（Hedge's g范围从 -1.00 到 -2.28）。与 ADHD-NoMed 学生 (49%) 相比，比较学生 (59.1%) 坚持了八个学期。多个变量预测了父母教育的结果、更少的抑郁症状、更好的执行功能以及接受高中第 504 节住宿和大学学术支持服务的最强预测因素。

结论：研究结果表明，应在大学入学前开始为患有 ADHD 的学生提供支持服务，并专注于提高执行功能技能和抑郁症状，以增加学业成功的机会。