COMPARING THE TRINITY STUDENT PROFILE RESULTS OF STUDENTS WITH ATTENTION
DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD) AND ASPERGER’S SYNDROME (AS)
Maria Clince, Laura Connolly & Dr. Clodagh Nolan
Discipline of Occupational Therapy
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The numbers of students with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Asperger’s
Syndrome in Irish Higher Education Institutes (HEI’s) has risen substantially over the last number of
years 1,2.
Many of these students face a number of challenges on transition into a college environment. For an
individual with AS, with specific difficulties in predicting events because of changing schedules,
recognizing verbal and non-verbal social cues, and understanding the college environment, college
life can be a daunting experience3. The student with AS may have difficulties with executive
functioning skills which may impact on their ability to meet the higher demands of college; such as
planning for assignments, submitting assignments on time and preparing for exams4. Engagement
with the social aspects of college life can also pose a challenge4 as well as emotional challenges, for
example, Adreon and Durocher5 claimed that student with AS can experience higher levels of stress
and anxiety compared to their peers in this environment.
Previous research has suggested that students with ADHD may also struggle academically, socially and
emotionally. Some studies have found that students with ADHD may have lower grades than peers
and experience difficulty finishing work. They need to work harder than others to get good grades,
they experience problems managing time, concentrating while studying and have difficulty planning
essays 6,7,8. Some researchers have suggested that students with ADHD may have more problems
socially than peers and these problems can make it more difficult for students to integrate into the
college environment7,9,10,11. Low self esteem, depressive symptoms and difficulties related to
substance use are other potential challenges for these students12,13,14.
METHODOLOGY
The Trinity Student Profile (TSP)15 was administered to students with ADHD and ASD as part of a larger
mixed methods research study.
Students from four Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) were recruited for the study using purposive
sampling. Inclusion criteria were: students must be over 18 years of age, students must have a
diagnosis of ADHD and/or AS and students must be registered with the Disability Service in their HEI.
Students were invited to participate in an online survey via an email sent by a member of staff in the
Disability Service in each HEI who acted as gatekeeper.
The Trinity Student Profile15 is a self-report measure based on the Person-Environment-Occupation
Model16. There are six sections in the TSP: Personal Details, Present College Life, Previous Experience,
Course Content, List of Concerns and Goals. The List of Concerns, which asks students to rate their
level of difficulty with the each listed different activities on a six-point scale, was used in this study. It
was found during its development that the TSP is a reliable tool (as measured using Cronbach’s alpha
(r=.845 to .518))15.
Students were also invited to list which of the items in the TSP were important to them and why.
Domain
Concern
%
1
Person
Maintaining concentration during study
75%
2
Person
Getting started with studying
72.8%
3
Person
Procrastination
66.1%
4
Occupation
Getting down to writing
66%
5
Occupation
Dealing with work overload
64.7%
6
Person
Concentrating during lectures and tutorials
62.9%
62.18 %
7
Occupation
Balancing college work and life
61.5%
62.18 %
8
Occupation
Managing free time
60.9%
60.26 %
9
Occupation
Structuring or planning the essay or project
59.6%
60.26 %
10
Person
Getting enough good quality sleep
59.3%
58.57 %
11
Environment
Tolerating external distractions
59%
12
Person
Knowing how best to study
58.6%
13
Occupation
Writing study notes after class
58.3%
14
Occupation
Organising information
57.7%
15
Occupation
Continuing writing, avoiding “writer’s block”
57.1%
16
Occupation
Dealing with time pressures and deadlines
56.4%
17
Person
Managing anxiety
53.1%
18
Person
Managing negative thoughts
53.1%
19
Person
Occupation
Remembering what I have studied
52.5%
Finishing the work
51.3%
The purpose of this study is to identify the difficulties experienced by each group of
students using the Trinity Student Profile (Nolan, 2011) and to compare and contrast these
difficulties.
Table 1: Ranking of Most Difficult Activities Across Categories – AS
Domain
1
Person
Concern
%
Managing Anxiety
Managing Negative thoughts
2
Person
3
Person
4
Person
5
Person
6
Person
7
Person
8
Person
9
Environment
10
Person
11
Occupation
12
Person
13
Environment
14
Occupation
Getting down to writing
52.56 %
15
Occupation
Working in groups
51.28 %
16
Occupation
Goal Setting
51.28 %
Managing stressful situations
Procrastination
Concentrating during lectures and tutorials
Maintaining good mental stamina/endurance
57.69 %
Being Confident
57.69 %
Getting enough good quality sleep
56.41 %
Making friends outside college
55.13 %
Being a perfectionist
53.85 %
Dealing with work overload
53.85 %
Maintaining concentration during study
53.21 %
Communicating with people
Table 2: Ranking of Most Difficult Activities Across Categories - ADHD
52.56 %
20
Managing anger.
Often those closest to
me get the brunt of it
as I hold in my
frustration in public or
other situations.
- Student with ADHD
RESULTS
Twenty-six students with ADHD and twenty-six with AS completed the TSP. In order to determine
which activities were the most difficult for students ratings were summated using the formula
below. The total score given was divided by the total possible score for each item and multiplied
by 100 to give a percentage ranking of difficulty.
(n1 x 0) + (n2 x 1) + (n3 x 2) + (n4 x 3) + (n5 x 4) + (n6 x 5)
(n1 + n2 + n3 + n4 + n5 + n6) x 6
X
100
Sleep. I have
suffered from
insomnia for the past
5 years and it has
ruined my academic
life
- Student with AS
I find I can be a bit excessive
in my consumption of alcohol.
Like many Irish teenagers, I
go out about once or twice a
week and on those occasions
will consume a lot of alcohol.
- Student with ADHD
‘Maintaining
friendships. I can
make friends, but can
I keep them?’
- Student with AS
This method was repeated for each concern on the TSP until a list of percentages was obtained
which allowed the researcher to rank the concerns in the order of the amount of difficulty
students experienced with them. These results are displayed in Tables 1 and 2.
Some of the activities listed as important for students with ADHD were studying, managing
emotions, getting enough sleep, self-management, socialising, leisure activities, managing
medications, controlling alcohol consumption and structuring and planning essays.. Activities
considered important by students with AS included getting good quality sleep, managing anxiety
and negative thoughts, switching off and relaxing, making friends and socialising, studying and
maintaining balance.
REFERENCES
1. AHEAD. (2012). Participation Rates of Students with Disabilities in Higher Education 2010/2011. Dublin, Ireland: AHEAD Publication Press. 2.
AHEAD. (2013). Numbers of Students with Disabilities Studying in Higher Education in Ireland 2012/13. Dublin: AHEAD Educational Press. 3. Glennon,
T. J. (2001). The stress of the university experience for students with Asperger syndrome. IOS Press. 4. Morrison, J. Q., Sansosti, F. J., & Hadley, W. M.
(2009). Parent perceptions of the anticipated needs and expectations for support for their college-bound students with Asperger's Syndrome. Journal of
Postsecondary Education and Disability, 22(2), 78-86. 5. Adreon, D., & Durocher, J. (2007). Evaluating the college transition needs of individuals with
high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Intervention in School and Clinic, 42(5), 271-279. 6. Reaser, A., Prevatt, F., Petscher, Y., & Proctor, B.
(2007). The learning and study strategies of college students with ADHD. Psychology in the Schools, 44(6), 627-638. 7. Reilly, D., & Lewis, K. (2010). A
review of the needs of students with ADHD in trinity College Dublin. (U. o. D. Disability Service, Trinity College Ed.). Dublin: University of Dublin, Trinity
College. 8. Lewandowski, L. J., Lovett, B. J., Codding, R. S., & Gordon, M. (2008). Symptoms of ADHD and academic concerns in college students with
and without ADHD diagnoses. Journal of Attention Disorders, 12(2), 156-161. 9. Meaux, J. B., Green, A., & Broussard, L. (2009). ADHD in the college
student: A block in the road. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 16(3), 248-256 10. Shaw-Zirt, B., Popali-Lehane, L., Chaplin, W., &
Bergman, A. (2005). Adjustment, Social Skills, and Self-Esteem in College Students With Symptoms of ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 8(3), 109120. 11. Canu, W. H., & Carlson, C. L. (2003). Differences in heterosocial behavior and outcomes of ADHD-symptomatic subtypes in a college sample.
J Atten Disord, 6(3), 123-133. 12. Dan, O., & Raz, S. (2012). The Relationships Among ADHD, Self-Esteem, and Test Anxiety in Young Adults. Journal
of Attention Disorders. 13. Blase, S. L., Gilbert, A. N., Anastopoulos, A. D., Costello, E. J., Hoyle, R. H., Swartzwelder, H. S., & Rabiner, D. L. (2009).
Self-reported ADHD and adjustment in college: Cross-sectional and longitudinal findings. Journal of Attention Disorders, 13(3), 297-309. 14. Rooney, M.,
Chronis-Tuscano, A., & Yoon, Y. (2012). Substance use in college students with ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders, 16(3), 221-234. 15. Nolan, C.
(2011a). The development and piloting of the Trinity Student Profile. A self-report measure for students experiencing mental health problems. .
Unpublished thesis. University of Dublin, Trinity College. 16. Law, M., Cooper, B., Strong, S., Stewart, D., Rigby, P., & Letts, L. (1996). The personenvironment-occupation model: A transactive approach to occupational performance. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 63(1), 9-23.
DISCUSSION
As described in previous literature students with ADHD and AS experience difficulties across
academic, social and emotional activities. However there are differences in the types of
difficulties experienced by each group. The majority of difficult activities for the ADHD group
related to academic activities (e.g. getting started with studying, dealing with work overload,
concentrating during lectures), whilst the ASD group were found to experience emotional
and social activities as difficult (e.g. being confident, communicating with people).
The majority of most difficult activities for the AS group related to the Person while in the
ADHD group difficulties were experienced across the Person and Occupation domains almost
equally. In both groups there were few difficulties within the Environment domain.
Many of the activities which were identified as difficult by both groups of students were also
considered to be important by students, in particular, managing emotions, studying and
communication.
The implications of these findings are:
•It is important to consider all areas of college life (i.e. social, emotional, living skills) not
just academics when working to support students with ADHD and AS.
•The differences in the groups highlight the need for varied supports that can meet the
needs of different groups rather than “one size fits all” supports for students with
disabilities.