ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. ADHD
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1585601
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Social Determinants of Health for College Students with ADHDView all articles
Unveiling ADHD's Impact on Higher Education Students: Statistics Anxiety, Attitudes, and Statistical Literacy
Provisionally accepted
- Western Galilee College, Acre, Israel
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Objective: This study investigated the understudied yet critical relationship between ADHD and statistical literacy in higher education. We examined how diagnostic status (diagnosed, suspected undiagnosed, non-ADHD) relates to statistics anxiety, attitudes, and literacy outcomes, while exploring attitudes, anxiety, ADHD status, and academic degree as predictors of statistical literacy. Method: We compared three groups of higher education students (diagnosed ADHD, n=80; suspected ADHD, n=74; non-ADHD, n=251) on measures of statistics anxiety, attitudes toward statistics, and statistical literacy. Results: Both groups with ADHD—diagnosed and suspected undiagnosed—reported significantly higher levels of statistics anxiety and less favorable attitudes toward statistics compared to the non-ADHD group. Surprisingly, no significant differences emerged in statistical literacy performance across the three groups. Multiple regression analysis revealed that attitudes toward statistics and academic degree were significant predictors of statistical literacy, while ADHD status itself was not. Conclusion: Although students with ADHD symptoms achieve statistical literacy performance comparable to their non-ADHD peers, this academic success masks a significant underlying struggle. Both diagnosed and suspected undiagnosed students experience heightened anxiety and more negative attitudes toward statistics, suggesting their academic parity comes at a considerable psychological cost. This highlights the particular vulnerability of the suspected undiagnosed group, who navigate these emotional challenges without access to formal accommodations or support. The findings challenge a narrow focus on performance outcomes and instead underscore the urgent need for interventions targeting emotional well-being. To foster sustainable academic success, support systems must address statistics anxiety and negative attitudes for all students exhibiting ADHD symptoms, regardless of their formal diagnostic status.
Keywords: Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Writing -original draft, Writing -review & editing. Carmit Gal: Conceptualization, Writing -review & editing. Chen Hanna Ryder: Conceptualization, investigation, Writing -review & editing. Miriam Sarid: Conceptualization
Received: 28 Feb 2025; Accepted: 04 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ryder, Gal, Sarid and Klemer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Chen Hanna Ryder, Western Galilee College, Acre, Israel
Miriam Sarid, Western Galilee College, Acre, Israel
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