Parents' Experience Raising a Child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobiological disorder affecting 3%-11% of children leading to 30%-50% of child referrals for mental health services. Symptoms include diminished attention span, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, behaviors that can negatively affect family relationships and functioning. The purpose of this study is to describe aspects of perceived family quality among those with and without a child diagnosed with ADHD.

The convenience sample consisted of 11 families of 6-12 year old children with ADHD and 12 families of children with no known physical or emotional disabilities. All children in the ADHD group were receiving medication to manage their ADHD symptoms (M = 2.9 years of medication use).

Mothers (n = 22) and fathers (n = 22) completed measures of family functioning and parenting stress. Family interactions were audiotaped during two consecutive mornings to obtain data on positive and negative affective tone of family interactions (n = 119) and later coded by raters blind to group assignment using the Audio-Rating Scale (ARS). Parents also completed the Daily Routine Worksheet (DRW to record time to complete morning routines, number of routines and parental effort required to complete routines.

Results showed that parents in the ADHD group had significantly lower family functioning in marital and sibling relationships than parents in the typical group and higher parenting stress. In the ADHD group, fathers perceived the child as having a greater impact on the marriage than did mothers. No group differences were found on ratings of affective tone or time and effort required to complete morning routine. The findings suggest that although ADHD has a significant impact on family relationships and stress, parents work hard to maintain a positive environment for their children with ADHD. Findings can enhance clinician understanding of parents' experiences raising a child with ADHD and the impact maintaining a positive family environment may have on marital and sibling relationships.

Generalizability of the findings is limited by the small, homogenous sample. Suggestions for future research are discussed.