Hoarding in college students: Exploring relationships with the obsessive compulsive spectrum and ADHD

- Self-reported family history of hoarding was associated with higher symptom levels.
- Hoarding symptoms positively correlated with obsessive-compulsive spectrum symptoms.
- Hoarding symptoms positively correlated with anxiety, depression and ADHD symptoms.
- Hoarding symptoms negatively correlated with quality of life ratings.
- ADHD symptoms did not relate uniquely to hoarding relative to other pathology.

Hoarding symptoms frequently emerge in early adulthood and can result in considerable impairments. Hoarding is related to many other psychological symptoms; however, greater study of hoarding within its context as an obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder, as well the role of attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms amongst these disorders, warrants investigation. As such, this study explored the extent and nature of hoarding symptoms, as well as their relationship with other psychopathology, in a college sample. Participants were 578 undergraduate students who completed a series of measures assessing the presence and severity of hoarding, anxiety, depression, stress, obsessive-compulsive, body dysmorphic, trichotillomania, skin picking, and attention-deficit hyperactivity symptoms. Independent samples t-tests did not detect significant differences in frequency of hoarding symptoms among men versus women, or those living alone versus with others; however, hoarding symptoms were significantly more common in individuals with a self-reported family history of hoarding. Correlational analyses found positive relationships between hoarding and all other symptom areas. Results from path analyses suggest that contrary to prior investigations, ADHD symptoms were not uniquely related to hoarding relative to anxiety and other obsessive-compulsive-spectrum pathology. This research may aid in developing a more thorough clinical profile of hoarding symptoms, potentially leading to more effective treatment strategies.