Academic motivation and academic achievement in students with ADHD: A systematic review

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurotype experienced among children and adolescents worldwide. Students with ADHD often face challenges with academic motivation and achievement which impacts their academic achievement at school. Factors contributing to these challenges include difficulty with sustaining attention, planning and organisation of tasks and activities, and time management. At school, students with ADHD experience challenges initiating learning tasks, particularly those of which they are not interested or are perceived to be overwhelming to start. Students with ADHD who lack motivation to start and engage in learning activities decrease their ability to remain on task resulting in disengagement from learning. Lower academic achievement in school is linked to poorer educational attainment (e.g., fewer years spent in compulsory schooling or post-secondary education) and occupational outcomes (e.g., lower income, higher unemployment) for individuals with ADHD post schooling. This systematic review explores the role of academic motivation on academic achievement among students with ADHD. The review identified a paucity of research with only three published papers (representing two independent samples), published between 2020 and 2023, meeting the inclusion criteria. Findings showed that both amotivation and cognitively challenging task motivation negatively predicted grade point average. Results also found that extrinsic and intrinsic motivation positively predicted academic outcomes. These findings indicate that supporting the academic achievement of students with ADHD is critically important for learning and academic success at school. These data also expand this important area of research beyond formal schooling to higher education and the workplace to ensure that students with ADHD continue to realise successful university and career outcomes. Additionally, future research could explore the role of extrinsic motivation as a strategy to support academic achievement among those with ADHD, or act as a stepping stone toward developing more intrinsically oriented forms of motivation.