[Association Between Parenting Styles and Symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder].

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to study characteristics of child and mother reported parenting styles of children with Attention Deficit Hyperacitivity Disorder (ADHD) and association of parenting styles of mothers with demographic and clinical variables like ADHD symptoms, sex, age, ADHD subtype, and comorbidity.

METHOD

58 children with ADHD and 30 healthy children were included in this study. All children were assessed by The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children- Present and Lifetime Version. ADHD symptom severity was assessed by The Conners Parent Rating Scale and The Conners Teacher Rating Scale. The Parenting Style Inventory (PSI) and The Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI) were used to assess parenting styles of mothers.

RESULTS

ADHD group had lower scores on two subscales of PSI (acceptance/involvement and strictness/supervision) and democratic attitude and equality subscale of PARI and higher scores on strict discipline subscale of PARI compared to control group. In ADHD group, higher symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder were associated with higher mother's strict discipline scores and lower child reported mother's acceptance/involvement scores.

CONCLUSION

Our findings supported the idea that there may be an association between parenting attitudes and ADHD symptoms in families having a child with ADHD. These results indicated the importance of integrated approach to ADHD diagnosis and treatment and evaluating the child with ADHD in the context of family environment.