Association between parenting styles and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to study the characteristics of child and mother reported parenting styles of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the association of parenting styles of mothers with demographic and clinical variables like ADHD symptoms, sex, age, ADHD subtype, and comorbidity. Method: 58 children with ADHD and 30 healthy children were included in this study. All children were assessed with The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children- Present and Lifetime Version. ADHD symptom severity was assessed with The Conners Parent Rating Scale and The Conners Teacher Rating Scale. The Parenting Style Inventory (PSI) and The Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI) were used to assess the parenting styles of mothers. Results: The ADHD group had lower scores on two subscales of PSI (acceptance/involvement and strictness/supervision) as well as democratic attitude and equality subscale of PARI while it had higher scores on the strict discipline subscale of PARI when compared to the control group. In the ADHD group, higher symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder were associated with higher strict discipline scores of mothers and lower child reported acceptance/involvement scores of mothers. Conclusion: Our findings supported the idea that there may be an association between parenting attitudes and ADHD symptoms in families having a child with ADHD. These results indicated the importance of an integrated approach to ADHD diagnosis and treatment as well as evaluating the child with ADHD in the context of family environment.