A Systematic Review of Parenting in Relation to the Development of Comorbidities and Functional Impairments in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Abstract

This review synthesizes recent research evidence regarding the parenting characteristics associated with families with children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD is a complex, heterogeneous disorder with a range of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to its behavioral expression and different developmental trajectories. The current review adopts a developmental psychopathology perspective to conceptualize the risk and protective factors that might shape the developmental pathways of the disorder across different domains. Following from Johnston and Mash's review (Johnston and Mash, Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 4:183-207, 2001), the present review systematically examines empirical studies from 2000-2008 that investigate parenting variables in relation to the development of children with ADHD, with a particular focus on the development of externalizing and internalizing comorbidities, as well as functional impairments in academic and social contexts. The most recent research evidence uses correlational designs to show that ADHD is associated with problematic family functioning, including greater stress within the family, higher rates of parental psychopathology and conflicted parent-child relationships, which appears to be exacerbated in children with comorbid oppositional and conduct problems. However, there is an absence of literature that considers the role that parents play in contributing to children's development in areas such as academic achievement and peer competence, as well as the development of internalizing difficulties. Future research should examine family factors that are associated with resilience in children with ADHD, using longitudinal designs that reflect the dynamic changes associated with a developmental psychopathology framework.

Advancing a Biopsychosocial and Contextual Model of Sleep in Adolescence: A Review and Introduction to the Special Issue

“…For example, compared to their peers, adolescents with ADHD experience higher rates of family conflict (Deault 2010), peer problems (Gardner and Gerdes 2013), academic failure (DuPaul and Langberg 2014), comorbid mental health problems (Larson et al 2011), substance use (Lee et al 2011), and driving citations/crashes (Barkley et al 1996). As discussed above, sleep is also related to each of these functioning domains.…”

“…In particular, parents of adolescents with ADHD describe their family environments as being less organized and structured and having significantly greater family conflict in comparison to parents of adolescents without ADHD (Deault 2010;Schroeder and Kelley 2009). Moreover, parents of adolescents with ADHD are less likely to provide consistent and clear structure surrounding house-rules and routines such as bedtime (Deault 2010), and as reviewed above, adolescents without consistent parent-set bedtimes obtain less sleep and have greater daytime sleepiness than adolescents with parent-set bedtimes (National Sleep Foundation 2006;Noble et al 2012;Short et al 2011). Further, parenting behaviors such as monitoring and rejection/hostility are associated with delinquency (Hoeve et al 2009), affiliation with deviant peers (Claes et al 2005;Galambos et al 2003), and substance use (Burke et al 2001;Dishion et al 2004;Marshal et al 2003), which in turn is likely to impact sleep functioning.…”

Cross-sectional study of perceived neighborhood collective efficacy and risk of adhd among a nationally-representative sample of children

“…Among children with ADHD, harsh parenting has been associated with increased oppositional behavior and conduct problems, and has been linked to impaired academic achievement and increased behavioral problems in school. [54] Strengths of our study include the use of a nationally representative data set that allowed for the control of many risk factors that have previously been shown to affect ADHD prevalence. There are several limitations to this study that should be acknowledged.…”

Parenting Styles, Parental Involvement in School, and Educational Functioning of Children with Special Needs Integrated into Mainstream Education

“…In fact, most of the literature on this issue has actually focused on the negative implications of raising children with various disabilities on the parents' functioning in the family and their mental state. In general, it appears that parents of children with various disabilities suffer from greater mental tension and are at higher risk of suffering psychiatric disorders and adopting non-adaptive parenting patterns (Deault, 2010;Gau & Chang, 2013;Raya et al, 2013).…”

“…This is because in such cases the adoption of a parenting style relies more on the child's characteristics and not just on the parent's characteristics (Woolfson & Grant, 2005). Most of the studies about children with ADHD, for example, show that the parents' characteristics moderate the influence of the children's characteristics on their development and adaptation to the various circles of life (Deault, 2010;Gau & Chang, 2013;Healey, Flory, Miller & Halperin, 2011;Kaiser, McBurnett & Pfiffner, 2011;Modesto-Lowe, Danforth & Brooks, 2008). Raising children with ADHD involves great mental stress and difficulty, which project onto the parental functioning and style, and this in turn is related to the children's functioning.…”