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Mother-Child Relationship in Youths with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and their Siblings

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Abstract

Despite impaired mother-child interactions noted in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there is no such information for their siblings. This study aimed to test whether the affected and unaffected siblings, like youth with ADHD, also encountered impaired mothering and mother-child relationships as compared to typically developing youth (TD). The sample consisted of 122 probands (107 males, 87.7 %), aged 10–16, with DSM-IV ADHD, 44 affected (26 males, 59.1 %) and 78 unaffected (28 males, 35.9 %) siblings, and 122 TD youth. Both participants and their mothers received psychiatric interviews (K-SADS-E) about the participants and reported maternal parenting style, mother-child interactions and child behavioral problems at home. Based on both reports, probands with ADHD and affected siblings (only youth report) had more impaired relationships, more behavioral problems at home, and less perceived family support than unaffected siblings and TD youth. Probands with ADHD had higher maternal authoritarian control than unaffected siblings. The findings suggest that impaired mothering, mother-child interactions, and family support are related to the presence of ADHD diagnosis in both probands and their affected siblings.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Health Research Institute (NHRI-EX95-9407PC, NHRI-EX96-9407PC, NHRI-EX97-9407PC, NHRI-EX98-9407PC, NHRI-EX100-0008PI, NHRI-EX101-0008PI), Taiwan. We would like to express our thanks to the participants, their siblings and parents for their contribution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK

    Jane Pei-Chen Chang

  2. Department of Psychiatry, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

    Jane Pei-Chen Chang

  3. Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Jane Pei-Chen Chang

  4. Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, No. 7, Chung-San South road, Taipei, 10002, Taiwan

    Susan Shur-Fen Gau

  5. Department of Psychology, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind, and Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Susan Shur-Fen Gau

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  1. Jane Pei-Chen Chang
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Correspondence to Susan Shur-Fen Gau.

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This study has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee (approval number: 9361700470; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00417781) of National Taiwan University Hospital Institutional Review Board and therefore all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with 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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There is no conflict of interest with regard to this work.

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

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Chang, J.PC., Gau, S.SF. Mother-Child Relationship in Youths with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and their Siblings. J Abnorm Child Psychol 45, 871–882 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-016-0218-9

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