No abstract

We examined the relationships between executive functioning, family environment, and parenting practices in children diagnosed with ADHD as compared to children without ADHD. Participants were parents (N = 134) of 6-to 12-year-old ADHD and non-ADHDdiagnosed children. Compared to the control group, parents of children diagnosed with ADHD reported their children as exhibiting greater problems with behavioral control and metacognitive abilities, and described their family environments as less organized and higher in family conflict. Family environment and parenting practices were not correlated with behavioral control or metacognitive abilities in children with ADHD. In children without ADHD, higher levels of family cohesion, organization, and expressiveness, and lower levels of family conflict, were significantly correlated with greater behavioral control. Higher levels of family cohesion and organization were significantly and positively associated with regulation of metacognitive abilities in children without ADHD. In general, aspects of the family environment and parental limit setting appear to be associated with the development of executive functions in children not diagnosed with ADHD; however, family environment and parenting practices were not associated with executive functions in children diagnosed with ADHD.

No abstract

Relationships among adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) and parent and peer relations and depressive mood were examined among 136 ACOAs and 436 non-ACOAs. As compared to non-ACOAs, ACOAs reported less positive relationships to mothers, fathers, and peers, and more depressive mood; however, more positive relationships to parents and peers significantly reduced the strength of the association between ACOA categorization and depressive mood. Examination of data from ACOAs alone revealed that maternal alcoholism was related to less positive relationships to their mothers and to their peers; however, paternal alcoholism did not predict the quality of the relationship to fathers, mothers, or peers. Attachment to parents and peers and the gender of the alcohol-abusing parent were associated with depressive symptoms among ACOAs.