Perspectives about Friendships and the School Learning Environment from Australian Adolescent Boys with AD/HD

ABSTRACT

This paper focused on six adolescent Australian schoolboys with ADHD, their perspectives about managing and maintaining friendships at school and why the classroom environment was challenging for them. Utilising qualitative phenomenographical methodology, data were collected using semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. Findings suggested that these Australian adolescent boys experienced some difficulty making and managing friends in primary school but were able to maintain a small friendship group in secondary school. For them, the classroom was a challenging environment both in the primary and secondary school setting, but specific teacher/teaching strategies assisted each boy to better concentrate and focus on the learning process.

KEYWORDS:

• Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• friendships
• phenomenographical research
• school
• student voice
• students
• teachers
• the learning environment

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.