Self-Esteem, Test Anxiety, and Resource Use in College Students with ADHD and ADHD Symptoms

College students with ADHD face several challenges in pursuit of higher education, including lower self-esteem, higher test anxiety, and increased risk for negative academic outcomes (lower GPA). Despite these challenges, a surprisingly small proportion (e.g., 54.4%) of this population utilize resources that could benefit them (e.g., disability accommodations, academic supports, medication, therapy). This study aimed to substantiate findings regarding lower self-esteem and higher test anxiety in college students with elevated ADHD symptoms and investigate self-esteem and test anxiety as factors associated with resource use for students with ADHD diagnoses. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 4,195 undergraduate students (278 with self-reported ADHD diagnoses) recruited from eight universities. Participants completed virtual self-report measures regarding current ADHD symptoms and diagnosis, college resource use, self-esteem, and test anxiety. Linear regression analyses revealed that ADHD symptoms were negatively associated with self-esteem and positively associated with test anxiety. Self-esteem was negatively associated with test anxiety, but ADHD symptoms did not moderate this relationship. Additionally, in college students with ADHD diagnoses, linear regressions did not find a significant association between self-esteem or test anxiety with resource use, and test anxiety did not moderate the non-significant relationship between self-esteem and resource use. These findings suggest it may be helpful for clinicians to consider screening for low self-esteem and high test anxiety when working with college students with ADHD or reporting higher ADHD symptoms.