Parental Involvement in the Education of Their Adolescents with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

The goal of this dissertation was to examine parent involvement in the education of their adolescent children with ADHD. The three studies were informed by aspects of two theoretical models (Hoover-Dempsey Sandler, 2005; Ryan Adams, 1995) that identify motivational and contextual factors that influence parental involvement, parent involvement behaviors, and parent and child factors that predict children’s academic achievement. Study 1 compared parents of adolescents with and without ADHD with regard to their involvement in their adolescents’ learning, study 2 explored the relationship between maternal and paternal self-efficacy and involvement behaviors with adolescents’ academic achievement, and study 3 examined the contribution of adolescents’ and mothers’ characteristics associated with maternal self-efficacy for supporting their adolescents’ learning. Method: The sample comprised 108 families with adolescents 13 to 18 years of age (58 ADHD, 50 non-ADHD). Parents reported on the psychological and contextual factors linked to their decision to become involved in their adolescents’ learning, their parental involvement behaviors, their parenting stress and their own ADHD symptoms. Adolescents reported on their perception of their parents’ involvement behaviors. Adolescents, their parents and teachers completed measures assessing adolescents’ inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, oppositional behaviors, learning problems, and academic achievement. Results: Both mothers and fathers of adolescents with ADHD reported lower self-efficacy to support their adolescents’ learning than parents of typically developing adolescents. Mothers of adolescents with ADHD, but not fathers, were less supportive of their adolescent children’s learning and had lower aspirations for their children than mothers of typically developing adolescents. Mothers’ self-efficacy and involvement behaviors did not predict adolescent academic achievement. Paternal self-efficacy, supportive involvement behaviors and aspirations were associated with higher academic achievement only in adolescents with ADHD. Mother-reported adolescent oppositional behaviors predicted maternal self-efficacy and this relationship was mediated by maternal parenting stress. The results partially support the theoretical models that informed the research. The findings highlight the role of parental self-efficacy. They suggest that fathers’ involvement in the learning of their adolescent children with ADHD is an important factor in enhancing the adolescents’ achievement, and that maternal involvement is influenced by their adolescents’ oppositional behaviors, their self-efficacy, and their parenting stress.Ph.D