Poster Session 10 Program Schedule
02/17/2024
09:00 am - 10:15 am
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 10: Neurodevelopmental | Congenital Conditions
Final Abstract #30
Correlates of Online Searching for ADHD Among Undergraduate Students
Cardinal Do, Ohio University, Athens, United States
Julie Suhr, Ohio University, Athens, United States
Category: ADHD/Attentional Functions
Keyword 1: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Keyword 2: self-report
Objective:
Research has shown that social media such as TikTok can lead to misattribution of common behavioral experiences to specific psychological disorders, including Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). We explored whether degree of social media searching for ADHD information in individuals concerned about having ADHD is related to 1) attribution of common behavioral experiences as being due to ADHD, 2) endorsement of personally experiencing these symptoms, and 3) ADHD illness perceptions.
Participants and Methods:
Participants were undergraduate students who completed an online survey about behavioral experiences that were taken from TikTok or other social media by posters who attributed those experiences to having a diagnosis of ADHD. The present study reports only on those who did not fail attention checks and did not report prior diagnosis with ADHD. Mean age of the sample was 19.55 (SD=3.06) and 85% were freshman or sophomores. Of the sample, 28% were men, 72% were women, and <1% were nonbinary; 82% were white, 7.5% black/African American, 3.5% Asian/Asian American, 3.7% Hispanic/Latine, <1% MENA, and 1% American Indian. There were 116 participants who expressed concerns about potentially having ADHD and 184 who did not express concerns about having ADHD. Those who expressed ADHD concerns were first asked to rate whether any of 42 behavioral experiences were attributable to ADHD. After completing other scales, including measures of social media searches for ADHD information and an ADHD-specific illness perceptions questionnaire, they rated how often they currently experienced any of the behaviors. Those who did not express concerns only completed ratings of how often they currently experienced the behaviors.
Results:
Results showed that 38 of the 42 behaviors were attributed to ADHD by 50% or more of the concerned group. However, of those 38 behaviors, 36 were rated as being experienced at least some of the time by 25% or more of the no concern group. In the concern group, frequency of online searching for ADHD symptoms was related to attribution of more behaviors to ADHD (r=.296, p<.001), higher frequency of current experience of the behaviors (r=.457, p<.001), and lower treatment control beliefs (r=-.17, p=.03), but not lower personal control beliefs (r=-.14, p=.08). Mediation models showed that attribution of common experiences to ADHD mediated the relationship between online searches for ADHD information and frequency of experiencing these behaviors, but treatment control beliefs were not a mediator.
Conclusions:
Our findings confirm prior work suggesting that behavioral experiences attributed to ADHD on social media commonly occur in young adult students and are not specific to the condition. Further, our findings suggest that degree of social media searching for ADHD information is related to attributions of more of these common behaviors to ADHD, as well as frequency of experiencing those symptoms and negative beliefs about ADHD treatment controllability. Our findings further reinforce concerns that social media searches for symptoms may lead to misdiagnosis and misunderstandings of ADHD and suggest it is important for clinicians to ask about use of social media to examine diagnostic concerns in individuals who present with ADHD concerns.
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