Investigation of stress level and parenting style among parents of children diagnosed as attention deficit and hyperactivity in Iran

Abstract

Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders among children. In this time the role of the family can be important because some negative behaviors of children diagnose ad ADHD can affect their relationship with parents. Aim of study: the goals of this article are to investigate parents of children with ADHD how much they have stress and which type of parenting style they used for their parenting. Method: 50 parents of children with ADHD and 50 parents of healthy children participated in this investigation. Conner’s parents rating scale, Robinson parenting style questionnaire, and parenting stress index were used as instruments. Result: as expected, parents of children with ADHD show higher stress level than parents of normal children. Also, they use a more permissive or authoritarian parenting style. As a suggestion, clinicians should be careful about the stress parents of children with ADHD may experience and psycho-education given to the parents is important.