This study analyzes the discursive construction of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and self in relation to a socioculturally shared understanding of moral norms. Thirteen Finnish youth aged 11 to 16 diagnosed with ADHD were interviewed during this discourse analysis study. The youth accounted for their culturally undesirable behavior, performance and traits through three different types of accounts: (1) externalizing personal responsibility due to a compelling medical condition, (2) internalizing personal responsibility through moral self-condemnation, and (3) distancing oneself from the socially imposed stereotypes and stigmas related to ADHD. This study challenges dominant understanding of young people with a diagnosis of ADHD and contributes to our understanding of how ADHD is constructed in their lives.

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Power struggle, submission and partnership: Agency constructions of mothers of children with ADHD diagnosis in their narrated school involvement Honkasilta, Juho; Vehkakoski, Tanja; Vehmas, Simo Honkasilta, J., Vehkakoski, T., & Vehmas, S. (2015). Power struggle, submission and partnership: Agency constructions of mothers of children with ADHD diagnosis in their narrated school involvement. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 59 (6), 674-690. doi:10.1080Research, 59 (6), 674-690. doi:10. /00313831.2014 AbstractThe contemporary education paradigm highlights the interdependency of home and school expertise, yet the school institution possesses and exercises power over parental involvement. This discourse analysis study examines the narrated agentive possibilities of 18 Finnish mothers of children diagnosed with ADHD to influence and be involved in their child's schooling. The results show that the mothers exhibited a strong, yet forced, will to participate, mainly due to lack of confidence in teachers' knowledge of ADHD and ability to treat their children as other than 'disorderly'. Additionally, our analysis reveals a gap between the mothers' narrated potential agency as a 'good mother' fighting for her child's well-being and their actual capability to be involved as intended due to unequal institutional power relations between home and school. This study sheds light on the shared educational responsibilities of the home and school, and the role the ADHD label plays in educational social practices.

This study explores the construction of parental and professional agency in the written accounts by women who have undergone selective abortion (N 08). The analysis of the data was based on qualitative, linguistic discourse analysis. The accounts indicate that the mothers themselves exhibited both strong and weak agency during the process of prenatal diagnosis. The role of the professionals was usually discussed in these accounts concerning only the phases of pregnancy when something out of ordinary had been detected. After the termination, the mothers expressed that they were forced to exhibit strong agency and find ways to cope with their distress unaided due to a lack of professional support. The findings provide new viewpoints for discussing the realization of parental autonomy in prenatal counseling as well as knowledge about the various emotional reactions which prenatal diagnosis and selective abortions evoke.

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