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Abstract

Parenting and family stress treatment outcomes in the MTA study were examined. Male and female (579), 7-9-year-old children with combined type Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), were recruited at six sites around the United States and Canada, and randomly assigned to one of four groups: intensive, multi-faceted behavior therapy program alone (Beh); carefully titrated and monitored medication management strategy alone (MedMgt); a well-integrated combination of the two (Comb); or a community comparison group (CC). Treatment occurred over 14 months, and assessments were taken at baseline, 3, 9, and 14 months. Parenting behavior and family stress were assessed using parent-report and child-report inventories. Results showed that Beh alone, MedMgt alone, and Comb produced significantly greater decreases in a parent-rated measure of negative parenting, Negative/Ineffective Discipline, than did standard community treatment. The three MTA treatments did not differ significantly from each other on this domain. No differences were noted among the four groups on positive parenting or on family stress variables. Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical and empirically documented importance of negative parenting in the symptoms, comorbidities and long-term outcomes of ADHD.

Examining the validity of the adapted Alabama Parenting Questionnaire—Parent Global Report Version.

“…Participation in this study was defined by the clinical status of the children’s parents. Although this sample offers a different perspective on the APQ, the breadth and magnitude of the difference relative to the two clinical sample studies reviewed (August et al, 2003; Wells et al, 2000) is difficult to determine. August et al (2003) did not report on the types or levels of symptoms of their parents.…”

“…Although the children’s ages spanned by the seven datasets were 4 years through 18 years, 6 through 9 years were the most frequently included ages. Although five of the studies administered the 42 item APQ, only Zlomke, Lamport, Bauman, Garland, and Talbot (2014) and, perhaps, Wells et al (2000) factor analyzed the 42 item set. The remaining studies either did not administer the seven other discipline items or omitted them from their analysis.…”

“…Changing parenting behavior has, therefore, been a key target in intervention programs for these same issues (e.g., August, Lee, Bloomquist, Realmuto, & Hektner, 2003; Lundahl, Risser, & Lovejoy, 2006) as well as for other problems such as ADHD (e.g., Wells et al, 2000) where the parent intervention components are intended to have a mediated effect on child behavior through improvements in parenting behavior.…”

Parenting Mediates Symptoms and Impairment in Children With ADHD-Inattentive Type

“…In order to reduce the number of parenting variables, the current study examined two factors (i.e., positive parenting and negative parenting) as derived from the APQ and PCRQ in previous factor analyses with a large national sample of children with ADHD (Hinshaw et al, 2000; Wells et al, 2000). The positive parenting factor is comprised of 40 items drawn from the APQ Involvement and Positive Parenting subscales and the PCRQ Warmth and Disciplinary Warmth subscales.…”

Mindfulness Training for Parents and Their Children With ADHD Increases the Children’s Compliance

“…With the current zeitgeist being on using positive methods, of possible concern is that extant parent training studies typically include some form of aversive or punishment contingencies (for an exception, see Ducharme et al 2000). For example, in the MTA study of children with ADHD, the parent training program included time-out and response cost procedures (Wells et al 2000a, b). While effective in the short term, these procedures typically do not teach the children socially acceptable replacement behaviors and their use by parents may, in fact, initiate coercive parent-child interactions with some children, especially those with oppositional defiant disorder.…”