ADHD symptomatology and metacognitive monitoring insights for college student support

Metacognitive monitoring, the ability to accurately assess one’s cognitive performance, plays a critical role in self-regulated learning and academic success. Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often exhibit positive illusory bias (PIB), overestimating their performance relative to objective criteria across domains, which may hinder effective learning strategies and reduce engagement with academic support services. This study examined ADHD symptomatology, task performance, and metacognitive monitoring accuracy in college students with ADHD (N = 70) and matched controls (N = 70) across verbal (reading comprehension) and non-verbal (Raven’s Progressive Matrices) tasks. Group comparisons revealed significantly lower task accuracy, higher ADHD symptom scores, and greater PIB in the ADHD group. Bias magnitude differed across modalities, with more pronounced overconfidence in the non-verbal task. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that ADHD symptom dimensions accounted for significant variance in bias across both tasks. Inattentive symptoms were most strongly associated with bias magnitude, whereas hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms showed weaker but reliable associations Overall, the findings highlight consistent associations between ADHD symptom dimensions and metacognitive miscalibration across task modalities, emphasizing the relevance of addressing self-monitoring biased vulnerabilities in college students with ADHD. Academic support approaches may consider integrating programs that strengthen sustained attention, self-regulation, and metacognitive accuracy among students with ADHD pursuing higher education.