Parental Psychopathology in Families of Children with ADHD: A Meta-analysis

Abstract

There is a large body of literature that examines the association between parental psychopathology and child ADHD. The strength of the relationship varies across studies due to differences between the sample characteristics and methodologies utilized. A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the strength of the association between parental psychopathology and ADHD to review the research findings and to establish the degree and size of the effect. The Tables Table 1: Neurodevelopmental disorders are broadly defined as disorders that emerge in early development and consist of deficiencies in several domains, including academic, social skills, and personal.The diagnostic features of ADHD are characterized into three domains: a) inattention, b) hyperactivity, and c) impulsivity. Inattention refers to difficulties with staying on task, maintaining focus, and being organized that are not the direct cause of deviant behaviour or problems with understanding (APA, 2013). Hyperactivity consists of inappropriate activity that is often excessive in nature, such as running around, fidgeting, talkativeness, and overall restlessness (APA, 2013). Impulsivity is characterized by uninhibited actions, spur-of-themoment decision-making, and is often driven by immediate gratification (APA, 2013). The aforementioned diagnostic features of ADHD are reflected in the three main presentations of ADHD: a) combined presentation, b) predominantly inattentive presentation, and c) predominantly hyperactive/impulsive presentation (APA, 2013). ADHD has been shown to be highly comorbid with both externalizing and internalizing disorders, including anxiety disorders (Mancini, Van Ameringen, Oakman, & Figueiredo, 1999;Pliszka, Carlson, & Swanson, 1999;Spencer, Biederman, & Wilens, 1999) and mood disorders (Arnold et al., 2012; Biederman, Faraone, Mick, Moore, & Lelon, 1996; Willcutt et al., 2012). However, ADHD in childhood is most commonly paired with other externalizing disorders including oppositional defiant disorder PARENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND ADHD 2 (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD; Biederman, Newcorn, & Sprich, 1991;Hinshaw, 1987; Lahey, Schaughency, Hynd, Carlson, & Nieves, 1987; Willcutt et al., 2012). Externalizing disorders are a group of mental disorders characterized by emotion and behaviour regulation problems (Eisenberg, Smith, Sadovsky, & Spinrad, 2004;Hinshaw, 2003).Risk factors and etiology. Researchers have described ADHD as a familial disorder (Biederman et al., 1995;Faraone, Biederman, Mennin, & Russell, 1998;Faraone & Doyle, 2000;Rasmussen et al., 2002;Spencer, Biederman, Wilens, & Faraone, 1994). The risk factors associated with ADHD include both psychosocial (Pressman et al., 2006;Theule, 2012;Timimi & Taylor, 2004) and biological components (Hawi et al., 2013;Stergiakouli, Hamshere, & Thapar, 2012). Biederman and colleagues (1995) identified a key set of family-environment risk factors for ADHD, which included low socioeconomic status (SES), maternal psychopathology, paternal delinquency, large family...

The Relationship Between Maternal Stress and Boys' ADHD Symptoms and Quality of Life: An Australian Prospective Cohort Study

“…The role of stress in dysfunctional parenting has been documented in a number of populations, including parental depression and community samples (Pinderhughes, Dodge, Bates, Pettit, & Zelli, 2000;Venta, Velez, & Lau, 2016). When compared to parents of children without ADHD, parents of children with ADHD experience higher levels of stress (Modesto-Lowe, Danforth, & Brooks, 2008), with such stress associated with psychopathology including depression (Cheung & Theule, 2016) and engagement in suboptimal parenting, specifically greater parent-child conflict and parenting anger (Bhide, Sciberras, Anderson, Hazell, & Nicholson, 2019;Theule et al, 2013). Our study did not measure parenting behaviors, but future research should examine whether dysfunctional parenting practices known to relate to parent stress mediate the relationships seen here.…”

“…In a recent meta-analysis of 80 studies examining parents' experiences of caring for a child with ADHD, parents reported exhaustion, anxiety, anger, desperation, and helplessness, reflecting high levels of daily stress (Corcoran, Schildt, Hochbrueckner, & Abell, 2017). Compared to parents of children without ADHD, parents of children with ADHD display higher rates of substance-related disorders as well as depression and anxiety (Cheung & Theule, 2016).…”

Resilience as a moderator between Objective and Subjective Burden among parents of children with ADHD

“…As concerns mental health, parents of children with ADHD report more psychological disorders then parents of children without ADHD, in particular depression, anxiety and alcohol abuse (Cheung & Theule, 2016;Durukan, Kara, Almbaideen, Karaman, & Gül, 2018;Faraone & Biederman, 1997;Margari, et al, 2013) and higher levels of stress than parents of children with learning disabilities or with typical development (Baker & McCal, 1995;Fisher, 1990). Prominent stress related factors include child symptoms' severity and behavioral disturbance, major and minor life events, as well as parents' psychological characteristics (such as perceived parental control over child behaviors and self-esteem), and parental psychological disorders ( Fischer, 1990;Harrison & Sofronoff, 2002;Mash & Johnston, 1983;Theule, Wiener, Tannock, Jenkins, 2013;Vitanza & Guarnaccia, 1999).…”

Parental Reflective Functioning in Mothers and Fathers of Children With ADHD: Issues Regarding Assessment and Implications for Intervention

“…However, data are inconsistent because other studies did not find the same differences in psychopathology between parents of children with ADHD and parents of children in the control group, suggesting the need to further investigate this controversial issue (20). A recent meta-analysis showed that the research on these topics has largely focused on mothers, with fewer studies on fathers (21).…”