(PS1-66) Anxiety in First-year College Students: The Role of Current Parent-child Relationship and Childhood ADHD

Introduction: The transition to college marks a period of newfound independence and responsibilities and is often associated with increased anxiety (Lipson et al., 2018). Anxiety in first-year students is linked with adverse outcomes such as academic struggles, peer difficulties, and mental health problems (Duffy et al., 2020). Anxiety risk is associated with internal factors, such as ADHD symptoms, and external factors such as parent-child relationship (PCR) quality (van Eijck et al., 2012). Given that a healthy PCR has positive effects for students with ADHD as they transition to college (Stevens et al., 2023), the current study examined whether childhood ADHD symptoms and PCR domains predict anxiety in first-year students.

Method: Participants were first-year college students (N = 2,767, Mage= 18.50, 70.4% biological female, 67.7% gender identity female, 67.7% White) at universities across the United States. They completed self-report measures of current and childhood ADHD symptoms (APA, 1994; 2013), current anxiety symptoms (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and PCR quality (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987).

Results: Hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to test whether childhood ADHD symptoms and PCR domains (trust, communication, and alienation) predicted anxiety beyond current ADHD symptoms. Stimulant usage and current ADHD symptoms were entered in the 1st step as covariates while childhood ADHD symptoms and the PCR domains were entered into the 2nd step. A significant regression emerged, R2= .32, ΔR2.   = .10, F(4,1221) = 29.50, p < .001. Childhood ADHD symptoms (β= .10, t = 3.14, p = .002), trust (β= -.20, t = -3.62, p < .001), communication (β= .10, t = 2.13, p = .033), and alienation (β= .20, t = 6.43, p < .001) were significant predictors. Lastly, analyses were run separately for women and men to avoid sex-neutral research (Hartung & Lefler, 2019), and communication was not significant for either. All other results held for both women and men.

Discussion: Childhood ADHD symptoms and PCR quality predicted anxiety in first-year college students while controlling for stimulant usage and current ADHD symptoms. Greater levels of trust were negatively associated with anxiety, whereas greater childhood ADHD symptoms and alienation were positively associated with anxiety. Higher communication quality was positively associated with anxiety, suggesting students who perceived higher levels of reassurance seeking and parental reliance are anxious when facing independence—but this result did not hold when examined in women and men only. Results emphasize the benefit of treating ADHD symptoms prior to college (Canu et al., 2020) to mitigate anxiety, and highlights the benefit of targeting PCR quality in interventions for college students.