Childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A stress factor for African immigrant mothers

Children between the ages of 6-17 years suffering from childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) need constant attention as they are more likely to be accident proned, hospitalized, disruptive, and educationally challenged. The constant attention required for children with ADHD may impose stress on mothers and primary caregivers, yet this stress has not been sufficiently studied. The objective of this study was to fill a gap in literature by studying the stress experienced by African immigrant mothers living in the United States who are living with and caring for a child with ADHD, and then comparing the level of stress reported by African immigrant mothers and African American mothers caring for children with and without ADHD. The study had a quantitative, case-control design, and used the parental stress index-short form (PSI-SF) and a 9-item demographic questionnaire as the survey instruments. One hundred twenty-five African immigrant and African American mothers participated in the study. Data collected from the mothers were analyzed for descriptive. ANOVA and Regression analysis were performed using SPSS version 21. The results showed that African immigrant mothers caring for a child with ADHD had significantly higher stress levels than those not caring for a child with ADHD. African American mothers also caring for a child with ADHD had significantly higher stress than African American mothers not caring for a child with ADHD. African immigrant mothers caring for a child with ADHD had significantly lower stress than African American mothers caring for a child with ADHD. These findings may initiate interventions that would help mothers provide quality care of life for themselves and for their children suffering form ADHD