The Association Among Executive Functioning, Self-Efficacy and ADHD with Attitudes Towards Online Learning

The term executive function refers to a variety of mental processes that help people to execute daily tasks such as planning, organizing, self-regulation and attention. Self-efficacy is a person's perception of their own capabilities. Prior research has shown that worse executive function and lower self-efficacy are associated with learning differences, such as ADHD, and also with psychiatric diagnoses. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction among executive function, self-efficacy, and attitudes towards online learning in students withlearning differences or psychiatric diagnoses. Fifty-one Union College students (45 females) completed a survey which assessed executive function, self-efficacy, attitudes towards online learning and also whether they had ever been diagnosed with a learning difference or a psychiatric condition. Contrary to expectation there were no significant differences in attitudes towards online learning among students with a learning difference diagnosis, a psychiatric diagnosis or no diagnosis. As hypothesized, students with learning differences and students with a psychiatric diagnosis had significantly worse executive function than students with no diagnosis. Students with a learning difference also reported having significantly lower self-efficacy than students with no diagnosis. As predicted, students with more effective executive function also tended to have higher self-efficacy than students with worse executive function. These results have implications for alternative ways to support students who are struggling academically, such as helping them to improve their executive function skills. This study also provides further evidence of the connection between self-efficacy and executive function.