Helping College Students With ADHD Avoid Risky Behaviors
CHADD Presentation Helping Students With ADHD Handle Risky Behaviors in College and Navigate Campus Disciplinary Proceedings

In this presentation, KJK attorneys Susan Stone and Kristina W. Supler discuss the unique social and sexual needs and habits of college students living with ADHD.

When students with ADHD matriculate to college, those students, their families, and faculty tend to focus heavily on the students’ academic needs and not necessarily on what accommodations are necessary for successful integration into campus life. Although academic focus is understandable, it often leaves students, and those who care about them, unprepared for the social, emotional, sexual challenges of transitioning to college and adulthood. Students with ADHD struggle with impulsivity and can be reactive to outside stimulus.

Young adults with ADHD often engage in risky sexual behaviors, such as deciding to have sexual intercourse without protection. Due to inattentive issues, students also are more likely to be involved in non-consensual sexual encounters, both as victims and as perpetrators by failing to pay attention to the social cues of a sexual partner. This failure to appreciate the unique social and sexual needs of college students with ADHD can often lead to disastrous results, from Title IX proceedings in the university setting, which can result in a student’s suspension or expulsion for sexual misconduct, to criminal charges. Attorneys Stone and Supler tackle how college students with ADHD can best prepare themselves for healthy sexual experiences.

Bringing their years of legal experience in this often misunderstood realm, Stone and Supler shed light on the potential consequences for college students who engage in impulsive sexual behaviors. They explain the Title IX process and how it may interact with criminal investigations, how the Title IX process can vary between universities, and how students with ADHD can access vital disability services and accommodations, whether as complainants or as respondents. Participants in this workshop will leave with an understanding on how college students can best deal with impulsive sexual behaviors and the potential consequences of failing to do so.