The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS): utility in college students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

Background. The number of students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) enrolled in colleges and universities has increased markedly over the past few decades, giving rise to questions about how best to document symptoms and impairment in the post-secondary setting. The aim of the present study was to investigate the utility and psychometric properties of a widely-used rating scale for adults with ADHD, the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-V1.1), in a sample of post-secondary students with ADHD.Methods. A total of 135 college students (mean age = 24, 42% males) with ADHD were recruited from Student Disability Services in post-secondary institutions. We compared informant responses on the ASRS administered via different modalities. First, students’ self-report was ascertained using the ASRS Screener administered via telephone interview, in which they were asked to provide real-life examples of behavior for each of the six items. Next, students self-reported symptoms on the 18-item paper version of the ASRS Symptom Checklist administered about 1–2 weeks later, and a collateral report using an online version of the 18-item ASRS Symptom Checklist. Students also completed self-report measures of everyday cognitive failure (CFQ) and executive functioning (BDEFS).Results. Results revealed moderate to good congruency between the 18-item ASRS-Self and ASRS-Collateral reports (correlation = .47), and between student self-report on the 6-item telephone-based and paper versions of the ASRS, with the paper version administered two weeks later (correlation = .66). The full ASRS self-report was related to impairment, such as in executive functioning (correlation = .63) and everyday cognitive failure (correlation = .74). Executive functioning was the only significant predictor of ASRS total scores.Discussion. Current findings suggest that the ASRS provides an easy-to-use, reliable, and cost-effective approach for gathering information about current symptoms of ADHD in college and university students. Collateral reports were moderately related to self-reports, although we note the difficulty in obtaining informant reports for this population. Use of a telephone interview to elicit behavioral descriptions for each item may be useful in future research that is required to specifically test the utility of the ASRS in, for example, documenting and confirming current reports of impairment due to ADHD symptoms and its positive and negative predictive power for diagnosis.

Adult ADHD: Associations with Personality and Other Psychopathology

“…Thus, participants comprising our sample were likely to be higher-functioning and psychologically healthier than we would expect from clinical samples comprised of individuals with ADHD. This interpretation is supported by the fact that total ADHD symptom scores in our sample were lower than what has been reported from samples of individuals diagnosed with ADHD (see Gray et al 2014).…”

“…The mean total score on the ASRS (i.e., summed across all 18 items) in our sample was 26.50 (SD=12.53), which is a much lower mean than has been reported on this measure in samples of individuals diagnosed with ADHD (see Gray et al 2014;M=49.1, SD=9.2). Participants in our sample who reported that they were taking stimulants to treat a mental illness (3.7 %, n=11) had a higher mean ASRS score (M=39.27, SD=6.29) than that for our overall sample; however, this mean score still is noticeably lower than that reported by Gray et al (2014).…”

The relationship of social anxiety disorder symptoms with probable attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Turkish university students; impact of negative affect and personality traits of neuroticism and extraversion

“…Although, it has been suggested that multimodal assessment, including informant and selfreport, should be used to gather more information about symptoms of ADHD (Alexander and Liljequist, 2013), self-report measures are frequently used to confirm ADHD symptomatology in university students (Gray et al, 2014). While research on assessment with this specific population is limited, in a study conducted by Katz et al (2009), participants self-reported higher childhood and current symptoms scores than informants.…”

Co-Occurrence of ASD and ADHD Traits in an Adult Population

“…Similarly, IQ can potentially affect ASRS scores (Gray et al, 2014). However, we attempted to estimate the potential effect of intelligence by using information about the participants' education level, which can be used to estimate IQ (Rammstedt, & Rammsayer, 2002).…”