A Qualitative Study of Goal-Striving in Adolescents with ADHD

Setting and attaining goals is linked to many positive outcomes for youth, but not all youth are successful in goal pursuit–particularly in the context of having ADHD. Repeated goal ‘failure’ tends to increase engagement in health-risk behaviors and often has deleterious implications for future educational and vocational endeavors (e.g., higher rate of school drop-out, chronic underemployment). This study had two objectives: first, to identify similarities and differences in goal setting and goal pursuit in youth with ADHD (n = 10; M_age = 14.6 years; SD = 1.3) and typically developing youth (n = 20; M_age = 15.6 years; SD = 1.3) and second, to compare goal striving in both groups of adolescents to that of their emerging adult peers (n = 22; M_age = 19.77 years; SD = 1.3). Semi-structured interviews were conducted and iterative thematic analysis was utilized to identify themes. Themes shared across groups highlighted reasons for, resources toward, and stressors associated with goal pursuit. Compared with the other groups, however, adolescents with ADHD applied more effort and allocated more strategies even when goals were of high interest (e.g., hobbies), rated academic goals as less interesting even when successfully attained, endorsed using fewer executive functions (e.g., planning, organizing) during goal pursuit, and did not link immediate goals to future ambitions. Our qualitative study provides a voice for youth with ADHD regarding their experience of goal-striving and offers a perspective for clinicians, caregivers, and educators to consider when working with adolescents who have this relatively common neurodevelopmental disorder.