Stress and burnout in university students with ADHD-like symptoms: The role of memory bias and daily stress

• Elevated ADHD symptoms are linked to higher dispositional stress and burnout in university students. • Emotion-focused coping and negative memory bias may contribute to higher stress and burnout risk in ADHD students. • Study highlights the importance of addressing coping flexibility and stress management in students with elevated symptoms of hyperacitivity-impulsivity and/ or inattention. Adults with elevated symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) are at high risk for stress and burnout, involving negative academic and social outcomes. For university students with subclinical traits of ADHD the correlation between ADHD-like symptoms, stress and burnout so far is not well understood. Additionally, also their reaction to daily stress events in stressful times, such as exam times, has so far not received much attention. This study examines effects of stressful events on university students during exam periods, with a focus on differences between those with elevated and those with low ADHD-symptoms. It aims to identify differences in stress experience, coping strategies, and burnout risk, and to investigate stress events on experience of daily stress and burnout. 149 university students who were also employed were screened for ADHD symptoms using a clinical screener and grouped into high versus low symptom categories. Participants first completed an online baseline survey assessing perceived stress, burnout, and coping styles, based on their experiences over the past three weeks. During a subsequent ten-day period coinciding with university exams, a potentially stressful time, they reported their daily experiences of stress, burnout, and stress-related events. At baseline (before exams), university students with elevated ADHD-symptoms showed significantly higher stress and burnout levels compared to their peers with low ADHD-symptoms, and they remembered significantly more stressful situations over the past month. Contrary to expectations, multi-level multi-group comparison revealed no significant difference between the groups regarding daily stress and burnout risk during the 10-day diary period during exam times. Working university students with elevated ADHD-symptoms might be a vulnerable student group at risk for high chronic stress level and burnout risk. Negative memory bias, influenced by coping style, might feed into negative academic self-esteem among students with ADHD-symptoms and should be addressed in university counselling and healthcare. Visual Abstract showing the Study's Aim, Methods and Results.