Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Philip Drucker

Second Advisor

Robin Wellington

Abstract

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by difficulties in attention regulation, organization, and impulse control, which may be associated with academic challenges in higher education settings. The present study evaluates a custom, non-diagnostic academic attention/executive difficulties composite developed for college students and explores its associations with academic performance. Student participants (N=56) completed an online survey that included the custom composite, the Adult ADHD Self-report Scale (ASRS v1.1), and a self-reported numeric grade point average (GPA). The study primarily examined internal consistency and convergent validity of the custom composite using the ASRS v1.1 and secondarily explored associations between attention-related measures and GPA using correlational and regression approaches. The custom composite demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α = .93) and strong convergent validity with the ASRS v1.1 (ρ = .69). Exploratory analyses indicated modest negative associations between academic attention/executive difficulties and GPA, with the custom composite accounting for a small but meaningful proportion of variance in academic performance, while the ASRS v1.1 scores showed negligible predictive value. These findings provide preliminary measurement evidence supporting the custom composite as a reliable, non-diagnostic tool for assessing academic attention and executive difficulties in a college student population.

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