How Does Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Relate to ADHD in a Sample of College Students?

ABSTRACT This study sought to investigate the relationship between SCT and ADHD in a two groups of college students. One group consisted of 121 participants who were clinically diagnosed with ADHD. The other group was a non-diagnosed control group which consisted of 102 participants who were recruited from general university classrooms. Students diagnosed with ADHD endorsed a significantly higher number of SCT symptoms compared to the control group. Additionally, within the group diagnosed with ADHD, the strongest significant relationship was between symptoms of SCT and symptoms of inattention. The relationship between SCT and symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsivity was non-significant. There were no significant gender differences in SCT symptoms in either group. The number of SCT symptoms needed to be at or above the 95th percentile in the group diagnosed with ADHD was nine and in the control group it was five symptoms. Informant differences were investigated in the group diagnosed with ADHD and the results indicated that the self-reported score for symptoms of SCT was significantly higher than those reported by an informant rater. SCT was significantly related to symptoms of anxiety and depression. The strongest relationship was between SCT and depression. The relationship between SCT and two timed measures of cognitive functioning was investigated. The results indicated that SCT was not significantly related to a measure of reading fluency or visual matching. This is the first known study to date to have explored the relationship between ADHD and SCT in college students. Recommendations for future research are made.