Parenting Attitudes and General Health in Mothers of Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Background: Mothers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have distinctive parenting attitudes and mental health problems. Objectives: This study examined the parenting attitudes, general health, and some other related factors in mothers of children with ADHD. Materials and Methods: Sixty mothers of children with ADHD who referred to psychiatric outpatient clinic of Ahvaz Golestan Hospital were selected by convenience sampling method. The parenting attitude, general health, and demographic data questionnaires were used. Results: Forty two (70%) mothers were healthy and 18 (30%) were unhealthy. The Pierson coefficient and the Fisher’s exact test showed only a significant relationship in maternal age with the total score of general health questionnaire (GHQ) (r = -0.350, P = 0.05) and the score of anxiety subscale (r = -0.429, P = 0.05). The scores of different attitudes were 29.45 ± 5.71 for dominating, 29.13 ± 6.08 for ignoring, and 27.8 ± 5.8 for possessive attitudes. Mothers with elementary school education level had fewer possessive attitude than higher educated mothers (P = 0.017). The ignoring attitude was significantly higher in staff members than others (P = 0.043). Logistic regression model also showed that the GHQ score was significantly related to maternal age (P = 0.027) and number of children (P = 0.011). Conclusions: Dominating, ignoring and possessive attitudes are frequent in mothers of children with ADHD. Parenting attitudes in mothers of children with ADHD may have relationships with job and education level. Mothers of children with ADHD, especially in younger ages and more offsprings may be predisposed to mental health problems, especially to anxiety.