Mothers of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: relationship among parenting stress, parental practices and child behaviour

Abstract

This study focuses on mothers of children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and sets out (1) to characterize dimensions of both parental functioning (parenting stress and parental practices) and child characteristics (behaviour) and (2) to determine predictors of parenting stress, namely parental rearing practices or perceived behaviour of the child, in order to plan intervention with the families. Fifty-two mothers of children diagnosed with ADHD and aged 6-12 years participated in the study. The Portuguese versions of the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin and Santos 2003), EMBU-P (Canavarro and Pereira 2007) and Child Behaviour Checklist (Albuquerque et al. 1999) were used. Results showed that mothers of children with ADHD experience higher levels of parenting stress (emerging essentially from the child's characteristics) and report more behavioural problems in their children (for girls and boys), but use parental practices similar to those of the mothers of the Portuguese validation sample. Results also indicate that child behaviour (both internalized and externalized) and parental practices dominated by rejection predict parenting stress. These findings have implications for intervention with children diagnosed with ADHD and their families.

Using video games to facilitate understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…This misunderstanding may cause increased negative perceptions of individuals affected by ADHD [8], leading to greater caregiver stress [12]. In turn, research has established a link between high levels of parental stress and dysfunctional parenting, including increased use of negative parental practices due to lowered perceived efficacy [11]. Dysfunctional parenting has further been linked to child underachievement [10], showing a vicious cycle for ADHD children where ADHD negatively influences caregivers, and caregiver stress can negatively influence children.…”

“…ADHD is currently one of the most controversial psychological disorders in terms of diagnosis and validity [7], though a great deal of scientific research suggests it is a real and non-trivial disorder that may be under-diagnosed in certain populations [3]. This controversy and a related lack of understanding amongst caregivers are perhaps most impactful upon ADHD-affected children, as caregivers can strongly influence quality of life, social activity, and success in school environments [6,11]. Furthermore, research has linked ADHD symptoms to greater parental stress, and parental stress to negative parental practices [11,10].…”

“…This controversy and a related lack of understanding amongst caregivers are perhaps most impactful upon ADHD-affected children, as caregivers can strongly influence quality of life, social activity, and success in school environments [6,11]. Furthermore, research has linked ADHD symptoms to greater parental stress, and parental stress to negative parental practices [11,10]. To break this chain, possibly improving life quality of ADHD-affected children, it is useful to research effective strategies to facilitate understanding of ADHD, especially for caregivers.…”

Estrategias de afrontamiento y estilos parentales en madres de niños con y sin trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad

“…Si bien se han desarrollado diversos estudios de investigación tendientes a indagar el estrés parental y los estilos educativos parentales (Pimentel, Vieira-Santos, Santos y Vale, 2011;Graziano, McNamara, Geffken y Reid, 2011;Tan, Camras, Deng, Zhang y Lu, 2012;Park y Walton-Moss, 2012), las relaciones existentes entre el estilo parental y las estrategias de afrontamiento han sido escasamente estudiadas, ya que en su mayoría se han centrado en las estrategias de afrontamiento de los niños (Richaud, 2005).…”

Metaparenting: associations with parenting stress, child-rearing practices, and retention in parents of children at risk for ADHD

“…Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are particularly challenging to parents (Pimentel et al 2011) due to the nature of the disorder itself. These children need frequent reminders to do the most basic of tasks because they are forgetful, disorganized, impulsive, and often require close monitoring to complete daily tasks; homework, mealtime, and morning/evening routines can be particularly challenging.…”