Inattention exams are prone to cheating

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Recently, a study published in the journal School Psychology showed that high school students who have difficulty concentrating in class are more likely to cheat. The researchers found that inattention and the resulting student hyperactivity combined to increase the probability of students cheating.

Lead author Eric Anderman, a professor of educational psychology at Ohio State University, said the question is important because many students with attention problems don't get a formal diagnosis, such as possible ADHD.

"Students diagnosed with ADHD receive more support and help in school, but many other children with attention problems are neglected." Anderman says they don't get the help they need, making it difficult to get good grades and avoid cheating.

The researchers studied 855 adolescents in three Midwestern public schools, two suburban schools, and one rural school in the United States, and collected data twice, about a year apart.

In the study, students completed a standardized test of inattention, which asked them to rate similar questions about how difficult they had in concentrating on listening to a teacher's lectures, how much forgetfulness they had, whether the duration of attention was short, and so on. Students' hyperactivity is measured based on their response to problems, such as whether they have difficulty sitting still and whether they desert.

To assess cheating, students scored them for plagiarism on exams, plagiarism of other people's answers, and the authenticity of similar cheating.

The results showed that students with higher levels of inattention had higher levels of ADHD, while students with higher levels of ADHD also had higher rates of cheating.

Anderman notes that ADHD itself has nothing to do with cheating, and that "inattention is the driving factor and causes problems in the classroom." Students have difficulty concentrating, so they make a fool of themselves, and when the two are combined, they form the perfect cheating conditions."

The study also took into account a variety of other factors associated with cheating, including depression, learning disabilities, gender, grade point averages, and whether students qualify for special education, but the researchers found that cheating was also associated with poor concentration.

Among students 17 years of age and younger, the prevalence of ADHD ranges from 7% to 9%. However, this study shows that as many as 3 times as many as those students have attention or ADHD problems, but these students either do not meet the criteria for diagnosing ADHD or have never been evaluated for diagnosis.

"But that doesn't mean they don't need help. There are many programs that help students with attention problems learn to self-regulate and learn how to be a learner. Anderman said. (Xu Rui)

Related paper information:

https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22644

Source: China Science Daily