University Students’ Learning Behavior, Online Learning Satisfaction, University Satisfaction, and Emotional Difficulties according to ADHD Tendencies and Gender in Covid-19 CRISIS

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the learning and emotional difficulties that students with ADHD tendencies experienced at a local university where its’ learning environment has changed dramatically due to the crisis of COVID-19. The differences in learning behaviors, online learning satisfaction, and university satisfaction according to university students’ ADHD tendencies, gender, and the level of emotional difficulties such as depression and anger were investigated. The effects of the coexistence of ADHD tendencies and emo-tional difficulties on those differences were also examined. Method: A total of 1,032 students in the K university at Daegu participated in this study. The learning behav-iors, online learning satisfaction, university satisfaction, and the level of emotional difficulties including depres-sion and anger were surveyed. The collected data were analyzed, first, using t-test in order to examine the dif-ferences according to ADHD tendencies, gender, and the level of emotional difficulties. Next, the participants were divided into four groups according to their ADHD tendencies/depression level and ADHD tendencies/anger level, and then t-test and ANOVA were conducted. Finally, two-way ANOVA was implemented to investigate whether the differences among those four groups differed by gender. Results: First, university students with ADHD tendencies tended to be more passive and neglected in their learning than those without ADHD tendencies. And, their online learning satisfaction and university satisfaction were also significantly lower than those of students without ADHD tendencies. Second, while female students were more active in learning and their level of online learning satisfaction and university satisfaction were higher than those of male students, they also showed higher levels of emotional difficulties such as depression and anger than male students. Third, the learning behavior, online learning satisfaction, and university satisfac-tion of the students, who had the coexistence of ADHD tendencies and emotional difficulties such as depression or anger, were significantly lower than those of students who had not, regardless of their gender. Conclusion: This study shows that there are differences in learning behavior, online learning satisfaction, university satisfaction, and emotional difficulties of university students according to their ADHD tendencies and gender. As COVID-19 shows no signs of subsidence, universities in Korea are more likely to offer online classes in 2021 again. At the same time, the problem of depression and anger among university students is likely to become even more serious due to prolonged COVID-19. This study indicates that university students ADHD tendencies, gender, and emotional difficulties need to be considered in order to effectively implement online learning in Korean universities in the COVID-19 crisis.