Owens Jayanti
Brown University, Box 1916, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2021 Mar;272:113746. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113746. Epub 2021 Feb 6.
Childhood diagnoses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increased dramatically in the U.S. in recent decades. Prior research has alluded to the possibility that high levels of parental intervention in school are associated with increased diagnoses of ADHD, but this relationship remains understudied. This study investigates: 1) whether the children of intervening parents are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, and; 2) whether parental intervention moderates the extent to which children's pre-diagnosis behavioral problems and exposure to strict educational accountability policies predict ADHD diagnosis. Analyses of longitudinal, population-level data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort of 1998-99 (n = 9,750) reveal that a standard deviation increase above the mean on parental intervention in school is associated with a 20% increase in the odds of ADHD diagnosis among elementary school children. This relationship is robust to differences in children's pre-diagnosis behavioral problems, academic achievement, parental knowledge of/exposure to ADHD, and school selection, and can arise because parents who intervene in school on average exhibit heightened sensitivity to behavioral problems and academic pressure from accountability-based educational policies. In light of prior work establishing both social class and racial/ethnic differences in parental intervention in school, this positive relationship between parental intervention in school and children's diagnoses of ADHD may carry important implications for the production of inequality in children's mental health and educational opportunities.
近几十年来，美国儿童注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）的诊断数量急剧增加。先前的研究暗示，家长在学校的高度干预可能与ADHD诊断增加有关，但这种关系仍未得到充分研究。本研究调查：1）进行干预的家长的孩子是否更有可能被诊断为ADHD；2）家长的干预是否会调节儿童诊断前的行为问题以及接触严格教育问责政策的程度对ADHD诊断的预测作用。对1998 - 1999年幼儿纵向研究 - 幼儿园队列（n = 9750）的纵向、人口水平数据进行分析后发现，家长在学校的干预程度比平均水平每增加一个标准差，小学儿童被诊断为ADHD的几率就会增加20%。这种关系不受儿童诊断前行为问题、学业成绩、家长对ADHD的了解/接触情况以及学校选择差异的影响，其产生的原因可能是，平均而言，在学校进行干预的家长对基于问责制的教育政策所带来的行为问题和学业压力表现出更高的敏感度。鉴于先前的研究表明家长在学校的干预存在社会阶层和种族/族裔差异，家长在学校的干预与儿童ADHD诊断之间的这种正向关系可能会对儿童心理健康和教育机会不平等的产生具有重要影响。
