| One-hundred and three college students were given either high or low effort training, which consisted of anagrams and addition problems, before their persistence was measured on paper-and-pencil mazes. Those students in the high-effort condition used significantly more time on the first difficult maze. Students who scored positive for retrospective ADHD symptoms on the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) found the mazes significantly more frustrating, solved significantly fewer mazes, and spent significantly less time overall attempting to solve the five difficult mazes. Additionally, the ADHD symptom group showed multiple deficits on the last two mazes, including giving up after significantly less time on the second-to-last difficult maze, spending less time on the second-to-last difficult maze overall, solving the last difficult maze significantly less often, giving up on the last maze significantly more often, and spending significantly less time on the last maze. The ADHD symptom group was also less academically and socially adapted to college based on the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire. Additionally, significant interactions were found between effort training and a three level college adaptation variable on measures of maze persistence. The group which described themselves as being most well adapted to college was more persistent after low-effort training, whereas the group that was in the middle range of adaptation to college was more persistent after high-effort training. Implications for the interaction of cognitive variables (such as attribution style and training conditions) as well as treatment considerations for those with ADHD are discussed. |
