A survey of the relationship between mental health with parenting styles in mothers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common psychiatric disorder in children. Family has a very important role in the management of these children. The present study aimed to assess the parenting styles and mental health status in mothers of children with ADHD.
This is a case control study which was conducted in 2013-2014. The statistical community consisted of children with ADHD who referred to psychiatric clinics in 5th of Azar and Taleghani hospitals. The case group consisted of 64 ADHD children selected through random sampling. The participants in the control group (64 school children in Gorgan) were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling. After explaining the project to mothers, the demographic, Buri's Parental Authority (PAQ), and General Health (GHQ) questionnaires were filled out. Data analyzed by SPSS-version 16, descriptive and analytical statistics and chi-square test.
Number of 47 boys and 17 girls were in each group. The mean age of ADHD group was 8.42 ± 1.84 years and 8.84 ± 1.10 years in the control group. Subscales of somatic symptoms, maternal anxiety, depression and the total score of GHQ questionnaire showed a significant difference (P=0.01, P=0.001 and P=0.01) between mothers of ADHD and control groups; that is to say mothers of children with ADHD are more anxious and depressed, and have poorer health than the others. Authoritative parenting style showed statistically significant difference in the case and control groups (P= 0.002). Also mothers age in ADHD group is higher but their academic education was significantly lower than the control group (P=0.01 and P=0.001).
According to our findings, among the four factors of ADHD, maternal education, maternal mental health, and maternal age, the influence of ADHD on authoritative parenting style is more pronounced than maternal mental health.