Maternal Executive Functioning and Scaffolding in Families of Children with and without Parent-Reported ADHD

Abstract

Parental scaffolding robustly predicts child developmental outcomes, including improved self-regulation and peer relationships and fewer externalizing behaviors. However, few studies have examined parental characteristics associated with a parent's ability to scaffold. Executive functioning (EF) may be an important individual difference factor associated with maternal scaffolding that has yet to be examined empirically. Scaffolding may be particularly important for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) symptoms due to their core difficulties with inattention, disorganization, EF, and self-regulation, their need for greater parental structure, and higher-than-average rates of parental EF deficits. Yet, little research has examined child ADHD in relation to parental scaffolding. This cross-sectional study examined: (1) the association between maternal EF (as measured by the Hotel Test, Barkley's Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale, and Digit Span) and observed scaffolding, (2) the association between parent-reported child ADHD/DBD symptoms and scaffolding, and (3) the interaction between child ADHD/DBD symptoms and maternal EF in predicting scaffolding. In a sample of 84 mothers and their 5-10 year-old biological children (62% male) with and without parent-reported ADHD, we found that maternal EF, as measured by Digit Span and the Hotel Test, predicted observed maternal scaffolding. However, child ADHD/DBD symptoms did not significantly predict maternal scaffolding controlling for child age, maternal education, and maternal EF, nor did the interaction of maternal EF and parent-reported child ADHD/DBD symptoms. Working memory and task shifting may be key components of parental EF that could be targeted in interventions to improve parental scaffolding.

Parental executive function as a predictor of parenting practices and children's executive function

“…Contrary to our expectations, parental EF was not significantly associated with parents' general parenting practices after controlling for child age and gender, family income, and parental education. This finding is surprising in light of prior research indicating relations among parental self-regulation and EF capacities and their caregiving practices (e.g., Deater-Deckard et al, 2010;Deater-Deckard & Bell, 2017;Mazursky-Horowitz et al, 2018;Shaffer & Obradovic, 2017). There are several possible explanations for the null findings.…”

“…Parents with poorer EF skills may have difficulty inhibiting their prepotent responses (e.g., yelling) in response to a frustrated child's behaviour. Similarly, when engaging their child in a learning task, parents may have to call upon their EF in order to stay on task (e.g., inhibitory control), remember the rules (e.g., working memory), and not get distracted (e.g., attentional flexibility) in a demanding environment (Barrett & Fleming, 2011;Bridgett, Burt, Edwards, & Deater-Deckard, 2015;Crandall, Deater-Deckard, & Riley, 2015;Mazursky-Horowitz et al, 2018).…”

“…Parents also need to use their working memory to remember the goals of the task, as well as the strategies that have been given and should be given next in order to complete the challenging puzzle. Finally, parents have to use their cognitive flexibility to alternate between ideas to help their children complete the puzzle rather than insisting on one solution that the child may not feel comfortable with (Barrett & Fleming, ; Mazursky‐Horowitz et al, ). Additionally, parents may need to draw upon these three EF components as they engage in other EF‐specific activities with their children, such as game‐like concentration tasks (Thorell, Lindqvist, Nutley, Bohlin, & Klingberger, ), games that require children to stop, think, and then act (Duncan, Schmitt, Burke, & McClelland, ), and memory games (Thorell et al, ).…”

Parent and child neurocognitive functioning predict response to behavioral parent training for youth with ADHD

“…Most parenting involves reinforcement that is delayed (e.g., ignoring a child’s crying in the moment to work toward a longer-term goal of extinguishing tantrum behaviors), or inconsistent (a child thanks the parents only infrequently), and involves consequences that may not be particularly rewarding to the parent; this makes many aspects of successful parenting particularly challenging for individuals with ADHD-related motivation difficulties. Moving forward, emotion regulation, motivational processes, and cognition should be examined concurrently in studies of parenting in ADHD to assess their individual and collective impact on parenting behavior and treatment outcome, given their interplay (Deater-Deckard et al 2010; Mazursky-Horowitz et al 2017). Future work will also need to include parental ADHD symptoms, along with these basic processes, to examine their unique and interactive effects on parent and child behavior.…”

“…Within the broader parenting literature, several studies have shown that stronger parental WM predicts more positive parenting behaviors (Mazursky-Horowitz et al 2017) and less harsh parenting in the context of challenging child behaviors (Deater-Deckard et al 2010). Responsive parenting also correlates with stronger parental inhibitory control (Shaffer and Obradović 2017).…”