The Relationship between Object Relations and Parenting Behavior of Mothers of ADHD Children

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to compare the object relations and parenting behavior of the mothers of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with that of the mothers with normal children. METHODS: In this study, we studied 64 mothers of children who were diagnosed with ADHD and 90 mothers of normal children. The mothers completed the Bell Object Relations Inventory (BORI), the Parenting Behavior Inventory (PBI), the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) and the Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC) scale. RESULTS: As compared with the mothers of normal children, the mothers of children with ADHD showed significantly different results for the parenting stress and parenting efficacy. For parenting behavior, the mothers of children with ADHD perceived their mothering as being more neglectful. On the other hand, the mothers of the normal control group perceived their mothering as being more affectionate and the fathers as being more reasonable and monitoring. CONCLUSION: This study suggests there is a significant difference of object relation between the mothers of children with ADHD and the mothers with normal children. The object relation pathology of the mothers of children with ADHD might contribute to impaired parenting behavior. The result of the present study indicate that inadequate grandparental rearing behavior affects the insecure object relation of their child (the mother), and a mother's insecure object relation affects their parental stress and parenting efficacy.