Psychology Students Shed Light on “Hidden” Population Within Community Colleges

The Northwest Vista College Psychology Department attended the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) from March 28 to March 30 in Little Rock, Ark.

NVC Professor of Psychology, Dr. Don Lucas, along with seven NVC Psychology students, attended workshops, invited talks, research symposia, poster sessions, and research paper sessions. NVC students presented two original research studies to standing-room-only audiences.

NVC students Suzzie Olvera, Christopher Sauceda, Robin Pritchard, Mel Cordero, Jax Silva, and Abril Martinez presented two studies. One study was titled, “Is Neurodivergence Associated with ‘Failing’ Tests of Reliability and Validity on Scientific Surveys?” The second study was titled “Prevalence of ADHD and Autism in Community Colleges.”

Dr. Lucas chaired a session on Health Psychology, and, with the help of NVC student, Eriq Gomez, presented a theory paper titled, “A ‘Happy’ Part of Life: Wonderments.”

Dr. Lucas said the SWPA audiences were particularly interested in the “Prevalence of ADHD and Autism in Community Colleges” study as its results directly relate to ‘implicit’ causes of less-than-ideal graduation rates in community colleges.

The study found that few community colleges know exactly how many neurodivergent students are on their campuses because they rely on general statistics about neurodivergent populations.

For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control, in the U.S. population, the rate of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is 6%, and the rate of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is 2%. Instead, the NVC study measured the prevalence of students with ADHD and ASD and scientifically found that between 4% and 33% of students enrolled in community colleges had ADHD traits, while 19% of these students were diagnosed with ADHD. Between 17% and 40% of community college students had ASD traits, while 3% of these students were diagnosed with ASD.

Dr. Lucas added that finding that a third or more of higher education students have neurodivergent traits can have vast ramifications on learning and staying in college.

Christopher Sauceda and Robin Pritchard will be attending The University of Texas at San Antonio and The University of Texas at Austin, respectively, in the fall, where they plan on continuing their studies of neurodivergent student populations.

NVC students have been attending and presenting at the annual meetings of the SWPA with Dr. Lucas since 2005.