C-12Lecture Note-Taking in Postsecondary Students with Self-Reported Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Objective: Taking and reviewing lecture notes is a prevalent activity that is related to higher test performance in postsecondary education. This was the first study to examine underlying cognitive factors in lecture note-taking in postsecondary students with self-reported ADHD. Method: Participants included 22 students with self-reported ADHD and 50 students who served as controls from multiple universities. The mean age of the sample was 22.62 years (SD = 3.68) and 68% of participants were women. Students took notes on a videotaped lecture, reviewed their notes, and took a written recall test. The independent variables included disability status (i.e., self-reported ADHD and non-ADHD), attention, transcription fluency, verbal working memory, and listening comprehension. The dependent variables were quality of notes and essay performance. Results: Multiple regression analyses revealed that attention (p < .05) and listening comprehension (p < .05) were the only significant predictors of quality of notes, and notes' quality (p < .001), disability status (p < .01), and listening comprehension (p < .05) — all significantly predicted essay quality. Post hoc ANOVAs revealed students with self-reported ADHD obtained lower scores on a written recall test and a measure of transcription fluency compared with non-ADHD peers, but did not differ in terms of quality of notes, attention, verbal working memory, or listening comprehension. Conclusions: Based on the current findings, it seems that postsecondary students with self-reported ADHD do not experience significant difficulties encoding information from lectures, but rather have trouble reviewing and/or retrieving information. More studies are needed to replicate these findings in students with confirmed ADHD.