(PS11-A1) Influence of ADHD Risk, Organization, Time Management, and Planning (OTMP) Behaviors, and Sense of Belonging on Stress and Adaptation of First-year College Students

Students with ADHD are at high risk for negative academic outcomes in college (Murphy et al., 2002; Norwalk et al., 2009), as well as negative affect (Blase et al., 2009). Interventions that feature an emphasis on organization, time management, and planning (OTMP) with both college students diagnosed with ADHD (Anastopoulos et al., 2020; Hartung et al., 2020) and those at high risk (LaCount et al., 2018) may help ameliorate such outcomes. Further, other investigations have established that a sense of belonging at one’s university (and related constructs like “mattering”) predict better management of academic stress and overall well being (Rayle & Chung, 2007; Sotardi et al., 2021). The current study addresses a gap in the existent literature by examining the combined and independent associations of ADHD risk, OTMP, and belongingness on perceived stress and cross-domain impairment of first-year college students.

Data were collected online at 7 universities in 2020-2021. Participants (N = 1,920) were first-year undergraduates (72.9% female [assigned sex], 64.2% White, M age = 18.4 [SD = .83] years). Regarding ADHD, 363 were in a high-risk group (endorsed 5+ inattentive and/or hyperactive-impulsive symptoms of ADHD) and 1,536 were below that threshold and considered low-risk (21 were excluded for incomplete data). Students completed demographics, DSM-5 ADHD symptoms, Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, OTMP behaviors (29-item), and institutional belonging (8-item) measures and given course credit and/or a lottery (gift card) entry upon completion.

Paired independent sample t-tests indicated differences between the low and high ADHD risk groups on stress (DASS) as well as adjustment in school, social, daily life, self-concept, and risky behavior domains, all in the direction of more problematic for those with high ADHD risk (ps < .001). Next, hierarchical regressions examined how ADHD risk status (step 1), OTMP behaviors (step 2), and sense of institutional belonging (step 3) predicted each of the aforementioned variables. The final regression equations all predicted significant variance (21.3 [stress] – 36.8% [school]); generally, all three predictor variables were independently significant, but in this ADHD risk was robust (R² = .123 – .328), belonging was less so (∆R² = .01 – .055), and OTMP behavior was negligible (∆R² = >.001 - .016) in strength.

This reinforces that college students at high risk for ADHD experience greater stress and impairment in a broad range of life domains when compared to peers without such high risk. Further, while there is a rationale that use of OTMP behaviors as well as belongingness both affect stress and maladjustment, the relative influence of OTMP was quite minimal, potentially suggesting that students (with and without ADHD) may benefit from initiatives that foster a strong sense of belonging. It is of note that this data was collected when the COVID-19 pandemic was at a high point; alternative instruction models were common across these institutions. Future research in unaffected years should replicate these findings, and also more thoroughly explore whether belongingness is particularly meaningful to those with an ADHD diagnosis.