Parenting Stress and Parenting Behaviors of Parents of Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The goal of this dissertation was to examine the extent to which adolescent and parent characteristics predict parenting stress and parenting behaviors of mothers and fathers of adolescents with ADHD. Study 1 examined the relative contribution of parental ADHD and depression symptoms to the parenting stress of mothers and fathers of adolescents with ADHD. Study 2 examined the contribution of adolescent oppositional behavior, parental psychopathology, and parenting stress to the parenting practices of mothers and fathers of adolescents with ADHD and the extent to which, in intact families, negative parenting behaviors of one parent contribute to the parenting stress experienced by the co-parent. Method: The sample comprised 83 families with adolescents 13 to 18-years of age (48 with ADHD, 35 without ADHD). Parents provided ratings of parenting stress and their own ADHD and depression symptoms and parenting behaviors. Adolescents, their parents and teachers completed measures assessing adolescents’ inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity and oppositional behaviors. Two aspects of parenting stress were investigated: Stress in relation to adolescent behaviors and parent-adolescent relationships (Adolescent-Focused Stress; AFS), and stress involving the impact of the adolescent on parental roles, relationships with others and sense of competence (Parent-Focused Stress; PFS). Positive (warmth and support, reasoning, and autonomy granting) and negative (coercive and permissive) parenting behaviors were investigated. Results: Mothers’ self-reported ADHD symptoms and impairment predicted their own parenting stress, and their co-parents’ PFS. Parental depression was associated with increased AFS and PFS for mothers and PFS for fathers. Parent-reported but not teacher-reported adolescent oppositional behaviors predicted parenting stress for both mothers and fathers, and parenting stress mediated the relationship between adolescent oppositional behavior and mothers’ and fathers’ parenting practices. Parenting stress also mediated the relationship between parental psychopathology and maternal positive and negative parenting and paternal negative parenting. Negative parenting in one parent predicted parenting stress in the co-parent. These findings support a developmental-transactional model that integrates child and parent factors that contribute to family functioning and highlight the role of parenting stress in understanding the relationship between adolescent oppositional defiant behaviors, parent ADHD and depression and parenting behavior among parents of adolescents with ADHD.Ph.D