Self-Rated ADHD Symptoms Among Biological Mothers or Fathers of Children with Confirmed ADHD in a French Population

Abstract

Parents of children with ADHD are more likely to present the disorder, which can affect quality of life and parenting strategies. Few studies have examined parental ADHD to date, none in France. Prevalence of self-rated ADHD symptoms in adulthood and childhood was estimated among 60 biological mothers or fathers of children with confirmed ADHD in France. Cutoffs were total score ≥46 on the Wender Utah Rating Scale and ≥4 on the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Screener. Results indicated possible child and adult ADHD in 12.5% of mothers and 10.0% of fathers. As these percentages exceed reported prevalence rates for the French population, a greater effort must be made to diagnose the disorder in parents.

Prevalence of mental illness among parents of children receiving treatment within child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS): a scoping review

“…The flowchart in Figure 1 illustrates the process of screening and data extraction undertaken in the review. Overall, 18 studies [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] were identified to have reported on the prevalence of mental illness among parents of children receiving treatment in CAMHS.…”

“…Other studies had a focus on prevalence rates in relation to specific mental illnesses, either in the parent [40] (see Table 4) or the child [41][42][43] (see Table 5). Finally, some studies reported the number of parents with a specific mental illness who had children attending CAMHS with a specific mental illness [44][45][46][47][48][49] (see Table 6).…”

“…There are well-recognised limitations inherently associated with self-reporting of mental health symptoms whether through interviews (utilised in 6 studies) or questionnaires (utilised in 10 studies), including voluntary participation [53] and potential for response biases [54]. A strength recognised in studies by Yu et al [43] and Dentz et al [45] was the inclusion of self-report measures of both retrospective and current mental health problems in parents.…”

“…Robson and Gingell [39] and Agha et al [44] took the position that whole-of-family interventions may be most appropriate when multiple family members experience mental illness. Dentz et al [45] and Sundarlall et al [48] suggested that interventions focused on developing and supporting parents' capacities to carry out their parental role should be provided, which would then confer benefit to the child. However, as asserted by Wesseldijk et al [33], there is presently a need for research to determine the most effective response in these circumstances and whether intervention should be focused primarily on the parent, the child, or should otherwise address parent's and children's conditions independently.…”

Sequential treatment of ADHD in mother and child (AIMAC study): importance of the treatment phases for intervention success in a randomized trial

“…The heritability of ADHD is high [7] and many children with ADHD have parents who show ADHD symptoms themselves [8, 9]. Furthermore, parents with ADHD are more likely to have deficits in parenting than parents without ADHD [10–12].…”