Academic motivation involves students’ internal interests, values, and self-determination to engage in schoolwork and academic tasks.
Deficits in self-motivation regulation are believed to play a pivotal role in the learning difficulties and achievement problems commonly experienced among youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
However, few studies have directly evaluated academic motivation impairments in ADHD and whether these explain poorer academic outcomes in these students.
Smith, Z. R., Langberg, J. M., Cusick, C. N., Green, C. D., & Becker, S. P. (2020). Academic motivation deficits in adolescents with ADHD and associations with academic functioning. Journal of abnormal child psychology, 48, 237-249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-019-00601-x
Key Points
- Adolescents with ADHD exhibited significant motivational deficits across intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation compared to adolescents without ADHD.
- Motivational deficits were differentially associated with aspects of academic impairment between adolescents with and without ADHD.
- For adolescents with ADHD, higher amotivation was associated with poorer homework performance and math fluency, higher extrinsic motivation (external regulation) was associated with higher GPA, and higher intrinsic motivation (knowledge) was associated with higher reading accuracy.
- The study had strengths including a large sample size and use of multi-informant, multi-modal indicators of academic functioning, but was limited by the cross-sectional design and demographic homogeneity of the sample.
Rationale
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with significant academic impairment, including lower grades, standardized test scores, and homework problems (DuPaul & Langberg, 2015).
Academic motivation deficits are frequently cited to underlie academic problems in youth with ADHD, as they often report difficulty persisting on longer academic tasks like studying, homework, and classwork (Morsink et al., 2017).
Despite this, few studies have evaluated academic motivation deficits in ADHD. The present study aimed to address this gap by evaluating group differences in academic motivation based on tenets of self-determination theory between adolescents with and without ADHD.
Further, associations between aspects of academic motivation and indicators of academic functioning were examined between groups.
Understanding academic motivation deficits and their relationship to impairment in ADHD can inform intervention targets to improve motivation and subsequent academic outcomes.
Method
Academic motivation was assessed using the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), which measures amotivation (an absence of motivation), intrinsic motivation (3 subscales), and extrinsic motivation (3 subscales) based on self-determination theory.
- The AMS has 28 items rated on a 7-point Likert scale indicating how much each statement corresponds to the individual
- It contains subscales assessing intrinsic motivation to know, accomplish, and experience stimulation, along with extrinsic motivation for identified, introjected, and external regulation
Academic functioning was evaluated through multiple indicators, including parent-reported homework problems on the Homework Performance Questionnaire (HPQ), final grade point average (GPA), WIAT-III Math Fluency subtest, and WIAT-III Basic Reading combining word reading and pseudoword decoding subtests.
- The HPQ has 13 items rated on a 5-point scale indicating the percentage of time behaviors occur, with higher scores indicating better homework performance.
- Items assess the ability to independently track assignments, manage homework time, complete work, and check the accuracy
Sample
The sample was 302 eighth grade students from public schools in the Southeastern and Midwestern U.S. The sample was predominantly white (81.8%), with mean age 13.2 years. The ADHD group was 69% male compared to 51% male in the comparison group.
The ADHD group had lower estimated IQ, higher rates of ODD comorbidity, and ADHD medication use. Groups did not significantly differ on age, race/ethnicity, anxiety, or depression.
Statistical Measures
Three MANOVAs were used to test group differences on academic functioning, motivation subscales, and motivation totals, followed by ANOVAs to probe differences.
A multigroup path analysis tested differential relationships between aspects of motivation and academic functioning between adolescents with versus without ADHD.
Results
On the MANOVAs, the ADHD group exhibited worse academic functioning across all domains than the comparison group, including lower GPA, homework performance, IQ, math fluency, and reading accuracy (p’s<.001).
On motivation subscales, adolescents with ADHD reported significantly lower levels across all subscales (p’s≤.001), including intrinsic motivation to know, accomplish, and experience stimulation, and extrinsic motivation for identified, introjected, and external regulation.
On motivation totals, adolescents with ADHD reported lower intrinsic motivation, lower extrinsic motivation, and higher amotivation than adolescents without ADHD (p ≤.001). In the path analysis, motivation was differentially associated with aspects of academic functioning between groups.
For adolescents with ADHD, higher amotivation related to poorer homework performance and math fluency, higher extrinsic motivation (external regulation) related to higher GPA, and higher intrinsic motivation (knowledge) related to higher reading accuracy (p <.05).
In contrast, for the comparison group, higher amotivation only related to poorer homework performance (p <.05), and higher intrinsic motivation (accomplishment) related to higher reading accuracy (p <.05).
Insight
Adolescents with ADHD exhibited motivation deficits across the board in comparison to their peers, aligning with theories that ADHD involves deficits in motivation regulation (Johansen et al., 2005).
The largest difference was for intrinsic motivation, suggesting adolescents with ADHD struggle to find internal satisfaction, interest, or sense of accomplishment from schoolwork.
Extrinsic motivation deficits indicate adolescents with ADHD also have difficulty recognizing how school enables longer-term goals.
Higher amotivation highlights adolescents with ADHD may not see the purpose behind academics. Together, these pervasive motivational deficits provide some explanation for the academic difficulties experienced by most adolescents with ADHD.
Investigating how motivation differentially relates to functioning for adolescents with versus without ADHD gives further insight.
For adolescents with ADHD, amotivation negatively affected homework and math, aligning with theories that amotivation impedes goal-directed behavior, and adolescents with ADHD have deficits linking their effort to outcomes (Patros et al., 2016).
External rewards were the only motivator tied to GPA for the ADHD group, fitting with responsiveness to incentives in ADHD (Mies et al., 2019) and suggesting interventions utilizing rewards could improve grades.
Higher intrinsic motivation related to better reading decoding for the ADHD group, supporting interventions fostering internal interest in reading. For adolescents without ADHD, amotivation mainly affected homework, while intrinsic motivation to accomplish goals enhanced reading accuracy.
Together, findings demonstrate adolescents with ADHD require different motivational strategies targeting external rewards to accomplish grade goals, reducing amotivation to enable homework/math persistence, and building internal reading interest to strengthen achievement.
Interventions like behavioral reward systems (Langberg et al., 2018), goal-directed approaches (Martin, 2013), motivational interviewing (Sibley et al., 2016), and promoting growth mindsets (Martin, 2013) may help remediate academic motivation deficits in ADHD.
Strengths
This research has several strengths:
- Large sample size of 302 adolescents, the largest study of academic motivation deficits in ADHD
- Included a matched comparison group of adolescents without ADHD
- Controlled for key covariates (sex, IQ, medication status)
- Used psychometrically strong measures of motivation and academic functioning
- Evaluated multiple real-world indicators of academic functioning (grades, standardized tests, homework problems)
- Used multi-informant (parents, teachers) and multi-modal (questionnaires, grades, achievement tests) data
- Tested differential relationships between motivation and functioning for adolescents with versus without ADHD
- Delved beyond simple group comparisons to show how improving particular motivational deficits may strengthen specific academic weaknesses
Limitations
There are also some limitations with this research:
- Cross-sectional design prevents conclusions about directionality
- Sample lacked diversity (81% White), limiting generalizability
- Excluded adolescents with predominantly hyperactive-impulsive presentation ADHD
- Did not evaluate comorbidities as moderators of motivation deficits
- Relied predominantly on rating scale measures
- Used only parent-report for ADHD diagnoses rather than multiple informants
- Could not evaluate ADHD symptom domains in relation to motivation deficits
Implications
These results carry significant clinical implications. Demonstrating adolescents with ADHD have deficits in motivation explains one contributor to their academic struggles and suggests directly improving motivation should help academic outcomes.
The findings indicate optimal interventions may need to target multiple aspects of motivation. Reducing academic amotivation appears essential to enable homework and math persistence in ADHD.
Simultaneously, interventions and accommodations maximizing external motivators like rewards, encouragement, and goal-setting around grades and concrete achievement benchmarks seem crucial to optimize graded outcomes. Fostering interest, enjoyment, and internal value for academics, especially reading, is also key.
The study provides guidance about specific motivational strategies that may work best to remediate different areas of academic impairment in ADHD.
For example, behavioral reward systems addressing extrinsic motivation could focus on enabling homework completion and test preparation, while motivational interviewing targeting intrinsic motivation may be ideal to build reading engagement.
Parents and teachers working to improve academic motivation in adolescents with ADHD may also need to incorporate different approaches than typically used with non-ADHD peers based on these findings.
Interventions will need to move beyond blanket “motivational problems” to tailor techniques based on the source of students’ motivational difficulties and area of desired academic growth.
Future work should continue investigating what motivates youth specifically with ADHD, how malleable motivation is in this population, whether motivation enhances functioning following intervention, and what intervention components optimize motivation.
References
Primary reference
Smith, Z. R., Langberg, J. M., Cusick, C. N., Green, C. D., & Becker, S. P. (2020). Academic motivation deficits in adolescents with ADHD and associations with academic functioning. Journal of abnormal child psychology, 48, 237-249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-019-00601-x
Other references
DuPaul, G. J., & Langberg, J. M. (2015). Educational impairments in children with ADHD. In R. A. Barkley (Ed.), Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment (4th ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Johansen, E.B., Sagvolden, T., Aase, H., & Russell, V.A. (2005). The dynamic developmental theory of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Present status and future perspectives. Behavioral Brain Sciences, 28, 451-454. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X05430041
Langberg, J. M., Dvorsky, M. R., Molitor, S. J., Bourchtein, E., Eddy, L. D., Smith, Z. R., Oddo, L. E., & Eadeh, H. (2018). Overcoming the research-to-practice gap: A randomized trial with two brief homework and organization interventions for students with ADHD as implemented by school mental health providers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(1), 39–55. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000265
Martin, A. J. (2013). Improving the achievement, motivation, and engagement of students with ADHD: The role of personal best goals and other growth-based approaches. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 23(1), 143-155. https://doi.org/10.1017/jgc.2013.4
Mies, G. W., de Water, E., Wiersema, J. R., & Scheres, A. (2019). Delay discounting of monetary gains and losses in adolescents with ADHD: Contribution of delay aversion to choice. Child Neuropsychology, 25(4), 528-547. https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2018.1508563
Morsink, S., Sonuga-Barke, E., Mies, G., Glorie, N., Lemiere, J., Van der Oord, S., & Danckaerts, M. (2017). What motivates individuals with ADHD? A qualitative analysis from the adolescent’s point of view. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26(8), 923-932. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-017-0961-7
Patros, C. H., Alderson, R. M., Kasper, L. J., Tarle, S. J., Lea, S. E., & Hudec, K. L. (2016). Choice-impulsivity in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 43, 162-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2015.11.001
Sibley, M. H., Graziano, P. A., Kuriyan, A. B., Coxe, S., Pelham, W. E., Rodriguez, L., Sanchez, F., Derefinko, K., Helseth, S., & Ward, A. (2016). Parent-teen behavior therapy + motivational interviewing for adolescents with ADHD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 84(8), 699–712. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000106
Keep Learning
Here are some suggested Socratic questions for students to critically analyze and discuss this research paper further:
- How might cultural factors relate to or influence academic motivation deficits in adolescents with ADHD? What cultures may view ADHD symptoms or academic impairment differently?
- How feasible would it be to implement some of the clinical recommendations from this study (e.g., motivational interviewing, behavioral reward systems) within a school setting? What barriers could teachers and school support staff face trying to improve motivation in students with ADHD?
- If you could design the “perfect” longitudinal study examining academic motivation in ADHD, what key factors would you measure and follow over time? What timeline would you use between assessments to try and detect potential bidirectional effects?
