(PS11-A6) Depression, Anxiety, and Stress as Predictors of Academic Procrastination in College Students with ADHD Symptomatology

Introduction: Although ADHD symptomatology (i.e., hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention) has been known to decrease with age, academic difficulties continue and even worsen as individuals advance in school (Massetti et al., 2008). These difficulties become especially apparent with the increasing responsibilities in college. In particular, college is a transitional period with distinct stressors including increased academic demands (Forster et al., 2018). Many college students with ADHD have reported procrastinating their academic responsibilities (Gray et al., 2016). Importantly, procrastination has been linked to poorer exam scores/grades, course withdrawal, and course failure (Doherty, 2006). In addition to the higher rates of procrastination, college students with ADHD are more vulnerable to experiencing internalizing difficulties including depression, anxiety, and stress (Chen et al., 2018). The current study aimed to examine whether depression, anxiety, and stress differentially estimate procrastination in college students with elevated ADHD symptoms. We hypothesized that in a sample of college students with self-reported ADHD symptoms, depression, anxiety, and stress would be associated with higher levels of academic procrastination.

Method: College students (n = 131, M_age= 20.13 84.7% biological female, 82.4% gender identity female, 89.3% white) at universities in the Rocky Mountain, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States completed self-report measures of ADHD symptoms (APA, 2013), depression, anxiety, and stress (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and academic procrastination (APS; Yockey, 2016).

Results: A multiple linear regression was conducted to assess how symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress contribute to academic procrastination in college students with self-reported ADHD symptoms (5+ symptoms of either inattention or hyperactive/impulsivity). Results indicated that a significant regression equation was found, R²  = .293,  ΔR^2.   = .10, F(3,118) = 3.70, p = .014, 𝑓² = .14. Depression was the only index that was uniquely significantly associated with academic procrastination in college students with elevated ADHD symptoms, (β= .23, t = 2.13, p = .035). Although slightly under powered, analyses were conducted with women-only to avoid sex-neutral research (Hartung & Lefler, 2019), and depression remained the only significant predictor.  

Discussion: Overall, these results suggest that symptoms of depression, but not stress or anxiety, are associated with academic procrastination in college students with elevated ADHD symptoms. These results differ from a study that found social anxiety is associated with procrastination in a non-ADHD sample of college students (Ko & Chang, 2018). Importantly, these results demonstrate the need to screen for and treat depressive symptoms when providing services to college students with elevated ADHD symptoms. This could include integrating evidence-based treatments for depression (e.g., mindfulness, CBT) with organizational skills training interventions. Due to our heavily female-skewed sample, these results are relevant at least college women. More research should be conducted with a higher sample of college men.