The relationship of ADHD symptoms and social skills: Moderating role of mothers' coping strategies with Children's negative emotions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the moderating role of parental coping strategies with children's negative emotions in the association of ADHD symptoms and children's social skills.

The present study is a correlational study. Participants were 191 children 7 to 13 years old (female: 43 %, male: 56 %) and their parents. Parents completed the Conners’s Parents Rating Scale-Revised: short form (CPRS-R: S), social skills rating system (SSRS), and Coping with Children’s Negative Emotions Scale (CCNES). The SPSS software (version 26) was used for analyzing the data.

Regression analysis results showed that ADHD symptoms and parental coping strategies with children's negative emotions can predict social skills in children. Moderation analysis showed that parental supportive strategies moderates the relation of ADHD symptoms and social skills.

Based on these findings using supportive strategies by parents have effect on the association of ADHD symptoms and social skills. The clinical and functional implications of the results have discussed.