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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Mothers and Fathers: Family Level Interactions in Relation to Parenting

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Abstract

Previous studies linking parent ADHD symptoms to parenting have typically focused on each parent individually. To provide a broader understanding of family context, in this study, levels of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity in mothers and fathers were examined, both individually and in combination, in relation to negative parenting and child-rearing disagreements. Two-parent families of 5 to 13 year old boys (126 with ADHD and 53 typically developing) participated. Parents reported their own ADHD symptoms and their perceptions of child-rearing disagreements. Parenting was measured using self-, partner-, and child-reports as well as observations. Controlling for child ADHD symptoms, inattention symptoms in fathers predicted parenting difficulties. For mothers, inattention symptoms were linked to parenting problems only when fathers also had high levels of inattention. In contrast, parenting was most problematic for both mothers and fathers in families in which fathers had higher and mothers had lower levels hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms. These results remained essentially unchanged when child externalizing behavior and mother depression and hostility were controlled, but father depression reduced the significance of some interactions. The results highlight the importance of the match between father and mother levels of symptoms, and point to differential relations of parenting to inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms in parents.

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Notes

  1. All analyses were re-run utilizing only the data from families with married parents and the pattern of results was unchanged.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the families who devoted time to participating in this research, and the many coders who analyzed the parents’ behavior. The research was funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to the second and last authors (CIHR 2010 MOP 106586).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    David Williamson, Charlotte Johnston, Amira Noyes & Kurtis Stewart

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Margaret D. Weiss

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  1. David Williamson
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  2. Charlotte Johnston
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  4. Kurtis Stewart
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Correspondence to Charlotte Johnston.

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Conflict of Interest

The first four authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Margaret Weiss has received grant funding from Purdue Pharma, and honoraria and speaker fees from Shire, Eli Lilly, Purdue and Janssen.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Williamson, D., Johnston, C., Noyes, A. et al. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Mothers and Fathers: Family Level Interactions in Relation to Parenting. J Abnorm Child Psychol 45, 485–500 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-016-0235-8

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