The Parenting and Family Functioning of Children with Hyperactivity

Abstract

This study examined the parenting and family life correlates of childhood hyperactivity in a community sample of London school children. Twenty-eight boys with pervasive hyperactivity were compared to 30 classroom control children on a range of parenting and family functioning measures. Results showed that poor parent coping and the use of aggressive discipline methods were significantly associated with hyperactivity after adjusting for the effects of conduct disorder and parent mental health. The best parenting predictor of hyperactivity was disciplinary aggression. Findings suggest that the quality of parenting provided for hyperactive children may contribute to their behavioural difficulties, and highlights the need to examine more closely the role of parenting attitudes and behaviour in shaping the course, prognosis, and treatment outcomes for children with hyperactivity.

Relationship between symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and family functioning: a community-based study

“…Results with regard to hostile parenting and parental warmth and consistency are consistent with previous research, which has found parents of children with ADHD to use less positive and more aggressive parenting behaviours (such as parents losing their temper and using physical punishment more frequently) [32,46]. The consistent parenting and inductive reasoning measures used in this study, which are also used by the LSAC [49], investigate more specific aspects of parenting to many previous studies, which have focussed more on general 'positive' and 'negative' parenting behaviours and parental aggression and punishment [23,27,32,46].…”

“…The consistent parenting and inductive reasoning measures used in this study, which are also used by the LSAC [49], investigate more specific aspects of parenting to many previous studies, which have focussed more on general 'positive' and 'negative' parenting behaviours and parental aggression and punishment [23,27,32,46]. Our results provide more specific information regarding the parenting styles in young school-aged children with symptoms of ADHD.…”

“…A Table 3 Adjusted analyses for outcome variables in children screening positive for ADHD symptoms a Adjusted for primary caregiver education, single-parent status and child gender b Adjusted for primary caregiver education, single-parent status, child gender and child conduct symptoms difference in this measure between positive-screen and negative-screen children may have been seen in an older cohort, when inductive reasoning may become more important as a parenting behaviour. Indeed, in the study by Woodward et al [46], which found parents of boys with hyperactivity to be less likely to employ inductive control methods, the mean age of children was 9 years. The results of lower family quality of life (greater emotional impact on parents and impact on family activities) were also expected, given previous findings on general family functioning [4,8,11,18,36,39,41].…”

“…Parents of children with ADHD also rate higher on scales of ADHD symptoms such as hyperactivity/restlessness and inattention/cognitive problems than parents of children without ADHD [19]. In addition, parents of children with ADHD use more aggressive parenting behaviours (such as losing their temper and resorting to physical punishment more frequently) and less proactive behaviours and are less likely to use inductive control methods (such as positive incentives and reasoning) than parents of control children [32,46]. They have also been shown to use fewer direct commands, more child punishment, mother-child interactions which are less positive and more negative behaviours towards their child [18,23,27,32,43,46].…”

“…In addition, parents of children with ADHD use more aggressive parenting behaviours (such as losing their temper and resorting to physical punishment more frequently) and less proactive behaviours and are less likely to use inductive control methods (such as positive incentives and reasoning) than parents of control children [32,46]. They have also been shown to use fewer direct commands, more child punishment, mother-child interactions which are less positive and more negative behaviours towards their child [18,23,27,32,43,46]. Families of children with ADHD are also characterised by lower marital satisfaction [15,43] and higher levels of parental separation and divorce than control families [3,[10][11][12].…”