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Perception of Parenting Style by Children with ADHD and Its Relation with Inattention, Hyperactivity/Impulsivity and Externalizing Symptoms

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Abstract

Children’s perception of their parents’ behavior is very important for their adjustment. Raising a child with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can be particularly challenging. However, little is known about how children with ADHD perceive their parents’ childrearing style. The main purpose of this paper is to study how children with ADHD perceive acceptance and control in parent–child relationships and this perception’s relationship with inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and externalizing behaviors. Participants were children between 7 and 13 years old with ADHD who were attending psychotherapy (ADHD), children without ADHD who were attending psychotherapy (APG), and children with unknown ADHD status who were not attending psychotherapy (NPG). Furthermore, one parent of each child participated in the study. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that children with ADHD perceived higher levels of pathological control in their relationships with their mothers than did APG and NPG children. NPG children perceived higher extreme autonomy than ADHD and APG children. Linear regression analyses revealed that the perception of pathological parental control and extreme autonomy predicted externalizing symptoms in children with ADHD. The perception of maternal acceptance and pathological control predicted inattention in APG children. Also, perceived maternal pathological control and perceived paternal acceptance predicted externalizing symptoms in APG children. Thus, these results show the importance of taking into account children’s perception of their relationships with their parents in addition to parental reports of their own behavior.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank to the children, parents, therapists, teachers and authorities of the institutions that participated in this study (Private Psychotherapy Center, CPP, Cognitive Therapy for Children and Youth Equipment, ETCI Foundation, Clinical Neuropsychology Foundation, FNC, and College Alas-Pinitos). Also, we are grateful to Maria Julia Raimundi, Lucia Bugallo, Mariel Gimenez and Yanina Guzman for their help in data collection for this research. This research was financed by the Argentine National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET; Res. No 3609/11 Directed by Dr. Schmidt and co-directed by Dr. Leibovich de Figueroa) and the Secretary of Science and Technology of the Buenos Aires University (UBACyT 20020100100052; Directed by Dr. Leibovich de Figueroa and Co-Directed by Dr. Schmidt).

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Molina, M.F., Musich, F.M. Perception of Parenting Style by Children with ADHD and Its Relation with Inattention, Hyperactivity/Impulsivity and Externalizing Symptoms. J Child Fam Stud 25, 1656–1671 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0316-2

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