Metas de socialização e estratégias de ação consistem em um conjunto de ideias e crenças culturalmente construídas pelos pais como objetivos a serem alcançados no futuro para seus filhos. A pesquisa objetivou investigar as metas de socialização e estratégias de ação de pais de crianças com e sem Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção/Hiperatividade (TDAH). Participaram 78 pais, sendo 39 de crianças com TDAH (Grupo Experimental) e 39 sem TDAH (Grupo Controle). Foi utilizado um questionário para levantamento dos dados sociodemográficos, além de duas questões qualitativas. As respostas foram transcritas e categorizadas conforme o modelo teórico das metas de socialização e estratégias de ação. Resultados indicaram que os pais dos dois grupos têm as suas principais metas relacionadas ao autoaperfeiçoamento. Em relação às estratégias de ação no GE, a mais frequente foi a centrada em si e no contexto e, no GC, a centrada em si.

Symptoms of parental stress can be perceived in families of children with mental health disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This research investigated the presence of stress in parents of children with and without ADHD and verified the possible association of these levels with inattention and patterns of children's hyperactivity/impulsivity. The participants were 78 parents with children between 8 and 12 years old with ADHD (experimental group) and without ADHD (control group). The study was conducted in two public schools, at a university hospital and in the participant's homes. Sociodemographic questionnaires, the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) and the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder questionnaire (MTA-SNAP IV), were used in this research. Relative frequency statistics and factor, correspondence and variance analysis were used for data analysis. The main results were the highest stress level (68.19) in parents of children without ADHD compared with that for parents of children with ADHD (27.37). The parents in the experimental group observed more behaviours of the child characteristics of ADHD (distraction, hyperactivity and impulsivity) than did the parents in the control group, with important differences identified between the two groups. This finding shows that although the parents of children with ADHD report more characteristics of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, their stress level is lower when compared with the control group.