PEARL: Personality, Emotional Adjustment, and Real-Life Functioning in College Students with ADHD Symptoms

The PEDFI Study (Personality Traits and Emotional Distress as Predictors of Functional Impairment) examines how ADHD symptoms, maladaptive personality traits, and internalizing symptoms together predict functional impairment in college students. Functional impairment will be assessed using the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale (WFIRS), including both total impairment and domain-specific functioning (Family, Work, School, Self-Concept, Social, Risky Behavior, and Life Skills). ADHD symptom severity will be measured across inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity dimensions, maladaptive personality traits will be assessed using the PID-5 domains, and internalizing symptoms will be assessed using IDAS-II Dysphoria, General Depression, and Anxious Arousal scales. Primary analyses will involve multiple and hierarchical linear regression models examining (1) the association between ADHD symptoms and functional impairment, (2) the incremental contribution of maladaptive personality traits beyond ADHD symptoms, and (3) the additional contribution of internalizing symptoms beyond ADHD symptoms and personality traits. Multiple comparisons across WFIRS outcomes will be controlled using the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate procedure within each hypothesis. Exploratory analyses will examine subgroup differences by biological sex, ADHD diagnosis status, treatment status, and symptom presentation, as well as latent profile analyses to explore symptom-based subgroups.