What Are The Challenges of Families with ADHD Children?

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Preschoolers:

One of the major tasks of families of preschool children is the establishment of a climate within which children can express emotions and negotiate conflict. Angry and distressed families are less likely to support feelings (Dunn & Brown, 1994). Regulating emotions and negotiating conflict are difficult in a negative family climate, especially for preschool children who appear to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of adverse parenting (Keown & Woodward, 2002). At this early developmental stage, the child’s nature interacts with family practices to facilitate or discourage the learning of oppositionality (oppositional defiant disorder) (Johnston & Mash, 2001).

Parental conflict and a retaliatory style of management were more characteristic of families with preschoolers with hyperactivity plus aggression than for families of preschoolers with pure hyperactivity (Stormont-Spurgin & Zentall, 1995). Mothers in these families reported giving more physical aggression to their partners (threatening, attempting, or actually hitting, pushing, shoving, grabbing, or throwing something at her partner or throwing things or smashing objects) and receiving more verbal aggression (arguing, yelling, insulting, or sulking) from partners during conflict than mothers of preschoolers with only ADHD (Stormont-Spurgin & Zentall, 1995). In fact, in longitudinal studies, family fights were most frequently cited as a contributing factor to child difficulties (for a review, see Cunningham, Benness, & Siegel, 1988).

Fathers of children with ADHD plus aggression differed from fathers of children with only ADHD in their greater restrictiveness with preschoolers and greater indulgence and permissiveness with their older children (Stormont-Spurgin & Zentall, 1995, 1996). It is possible that fathers’ early control strategies failed to produce intended results, so they disengaged from the disciplinary process. Although disengagement avoids feelings of failure, it can also have long-term negative consequences, including failure to monitor children, which appears to protect them from learning aggression (Johnston & Mash, 2001). Disengagement has also been reported for parents in other disability groups (for a review, see Stormont-Spurgin & Zentall, 1996).

Mothers used more lax parenting with their preschoolers (Keown & Woodward, 2002) but more punishment (time-outs or taking away privileges) with their elementary-age children than did comparison mothers (Stormont-Spurgin & Zentall, 1996). Disengagement for mothers was seen in decreased interactions during play, especially when mothers were experiencing stress (Mash, 1983). The statements of mothers of children with ADHD can indicate their reactions to some parenting tasks. For example, when asked what were the rules in their family, one mother replied, “Keep their rooms clean, which they don’t; do the dishes, which they don’t; take care of these pets, which they don’t.” In contrast, when mothers were confident in their parenting skills and knowledge, they were more likely to be active in their task interactions with their children (Mash, 1983).