Experiences of hyperfocus and flow in college students with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Validation of the Dispositional Adult Hyperfocus Questionnaire (AHQ-D)

“…This is in line with our prior work in which we found significant but comparatively weaker correlations (r = 0.39-0.41) between CAARS t-score subscores and the dispositional HF subscale 7 . This finding also corresponds with three recent studies by other groups in general population samples (n = 84 11 , n = 380 9 , and n = 694 12 ) which similarly found significant positive correlations (r = 0.70, 0.47, and 0.31, respectively) between AHQ-D scores and ADHD traits measured using the Adult ADHD Self Report scale (ASRS) 45 . Furthermore, this result is in line with an additional study which found that ADHD traits measured using the ADHD Rating Scale (ARS) 46 were weakly positively correlated with HF frequency (i.e., participants' response to "how often do you experience these periods" among the 929 of 1,124 participants who reported HF occurrences) 47 .…”

“…Moreover, as we discussed previously 7 , HF could be a type of "deep" flow, which is a more intense experience that involves detachment from one's environment 11,49 ; however, the flow questionnaire 13,14 primarily asks about aspects of "shallow" flow, and therefore it likely follows these flow scores would be positively related to AHQ-D scores, but exhibit a weak rather than strong association. This fits with another study 11 that used the same dispositional flow scale 13,14 , but separately examined correlations of the AHQ-D with each of the 9 flow dimensions (instead of with total flow score).…”

“…However, it is important to acknowledge that (unlike our prior work 7 ) here we did not specifically recruit individuals with ADHD and therefore this group difference should be interpreted with caution. Limited prior work [10][11][12]47 has similarly compared HF by ADHD diagnosis (though mostly in post hoc analyses and/or relatively small samples). One of these studies 11 found that 41 college students with high ADHD traits (ASRS score ≥ 14) had higher AHQ-D scores compared to 43 students with low ADHD traits (ASRS score < 14); the same study also found that the 20 students in this sample who self-reported a prior ADHD diagnosis also had significantly higher AHQ-D scores compared with the 64 who did not.…”

“…developed one questionnaire to measure HF in neurotypical adults and those with ADHD 5,6 , though this questionnaire suffered from several limitations (e.g., items focused primarily on negative aspects of HF; the published English translation included several items with confusing wording for native English speakers). Subsequently, our group published the Adult Hyperfocus Questionnaire (AHQ) 7 , which has since been utilized to quantify HF in both the general population 8,9 and in various clinical populations, including those with ADHD [10][11][12] .…”

Hyperfocus or flow? Attentional strengths in autism spectrum disorder

“…Given that most items on the flow questionnaire represent shallow flow states, they posited that flow varies from shallow flow to hyperfocus, a less common deep flow state. A more recent study among university students with and without ADHD symptoms ( 15 ) found negative correlations between scores across the subscales of the AHQ and the goals, feedback, concentration, and control subscales of the DFS-2, suggesting that the deep levels of absorption seen in hyperfocus are accompanied by perceptions of loss of control (i.e., the sense that one can accomplish anything), one of the nine dimensions of flow according to Csikszentmihalyi ( 16 ), and therefore may be impairing.…”