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Parenting Practices and Prospective Levels of Hyperactivity/Inattention Across Early- and Middle-Childhood

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Abstract

This study examined specific parenting practices as predictors of prospective levels of children’s hyperactivity/inattention across early- and middle-childhood. Participants were a mixed-sex community cohort (N = 976; 52 % boys) aged 4–10 years (M = 6.5, SD = 1.3). Measures of parenting practices, hyperactivity/inattention, conduct problems, and maternal education were collected at baseline, and hyperactivity/inattention re-assessed at 12-month follow-up. Analyses examined predictors of 12-month hyperactivity/inattention while controlling for levels at baseline. High levels of parental involvement were associated with reduced levels of hyperactivity/inattention, but only across early childhood. Conversely, increases in child age were associated with increased levels of hyperactivity/inattention across middle-childhood, but only among children exposed to high levels of inconsistent discipline. Inconsistent discipline and parental involvement appear to be uniquely associated with prospective hyperactivity/inattention across childhood, independent of associated conduct problems. Our results further suggest some developmental specificity with regard to the effects of these distinct dimensions of parenting on hyperactivity/inattention at different points in childhood.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    David J. Hawes & Alex Russell

  2. The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Mark R. Dadds

  3. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Aaron D. J. Frost

  4. School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    David J. Hawes

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  1. David J. Hawes
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  2. Mark R. Dadds
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  3. Aaron D. J. Frost
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  4. Alex Russell
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Correspondence to David J. Hawes.

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Hawes, D.J., Dadds, M.R., Frost, A.D.J. et al. Parenting Practices and Prospective Levels of Hyperactivity/Inattention Across Early- and Middle-Childhood. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 35, 273–282 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-013-9341-x

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