Parenting characteristics of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct problems / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the parenting characteristics of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct problems.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study involving 84 ADHD children with conduct problems and 75 ADHD children without conduct problems treated in the Outpatient Department of Children′s Health and Mental Health Center, Shenzhen Children′s Hospital from September 2017 to December 2019, and 54 healthy control children (healthy children in ordinary primary and secondary schools in Shenzhen) were included.The Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (EMBU) scale was used to access the parenting styles of participants. ANCOVA was used to compare the different score of all factors in EMBU among these 3 groups and Tukey′s post-hoc comparisons were also performed.All comparisons were corrected for age and sex. Results:Among the factor scores of EMBU scale, ADHD children with conduct problems scored significantly higher on parental and maternal harsh/punishment [Parental (22.10±4.92) scores vs.(19.40±4.01) scores vs.(17.40±2.51) scores; Maternal (15.10±3.54) scores vs.(13.70±2.78) scores vs.(12.40±1.97) scores] and the reject/deny factors [Parental(10.60±2.49)scores vs.(9.40±2.06)scores vs.(8.90±1.61)scores, Maternal(13.90±3.28)scores vs.(12.40±2.64)scores vs.(11.60±2.19)scores] than ADHD children without conduct problems and the healthy control group (all P<0.001). On parental overprotection factors, both ADHD groups scored higher than the healthy control group [(10.30±2.03) scores vs.(9.80±2.13) scores vs.(8.70±1.92) scores, P<0.001], while on maternal over-interference factor, ADHD children with conduct problem scored significantly higher than ADHD children without conduct problems and the healthy controls [(36.00±4.64) scores vs.(34.60±4.38) scores vs.(33.30±4.92) scores, P=0.009]. Conclusions:Parents of ADHD children with conduct problems tend to use more negative parenting skills like punishment, over-interference, rejection and denial.This kind of negative parenting style, to some extent, causes the conduct problems in children with ADHD.