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Objective: Prior to the 1970s, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was perceived as a condition that children outgrew as they matured. However by the late 1990s, results from the longitudinal studies showed that for one half to two thirds of children with ADHD, symptoms persist into adolescence and adulthood The approximate prevalence of ADHD is 4.4% in adulthood . In Turkey, even though there are studies regarding depressive symptoms, anger reactions, alcohol and substance use in university students, the studies concerning ADHD symptoms in university students are limited. Thus the aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of ADHD symptoms and the impact of these symptoms in university students.
Method: Students attending to Acıbadem University were asked to fill out an online questionnaire from the website (www.genciz.org). Turkish version of the adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder self-report scale (ASRS) was used to assess the symptoms of ADHD.
Results: Among 349 students 260 completed the questionnaire. 196 (75.4%) of the students were female and 64 (24.6%) were male. According to ASRS 24 (9.2%) students had ADHD symptoms. Students with ADHD symptoms significantly thought that they had low academic performance compared to students without ADHD symptoms (%16,7 vs %3; p=0,01). 37.5 % of the students with ADHD revealed that they have failed during their education, while 19.5% of the students without ADHD have failed (p=0.04). Students with ADHD symptoms had significantly more failure in anger control compared to those without ADHD symptoms (100 % vs 71.2 %; p<0.001).
Conclusion: ADHD is associated with considerable disability. The high comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders, resulting in risky health behavior, deficits in social and academic life often cause diminished life quality. Similar to Taner et al. study our results also show that ADHD symptoms have negative effects on academic performance and progress in educational life during adulthood. Further investigations in Turkey are needed to better understand the impact of ADHD in university students and to develop interventions to enhance students’ success.