Written by Nathan Whenman
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a behavioural disorder that includes symptoms such as inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Typically, symptoms of ADHD tend to be noticed at an early age (most cases are diagnosed when children are 6-12 years old) and may become more noticeable when a child’s circumstances change, such as when they start school. Generally, the symptoms of ADHD improve with age, though many adults who were diagnosed with the condition at a young age continue to experience problems.
A 2016
study by Erica Musser & Colleagues sought to investigate one factor that
may exacerbate the symptoms of ADHD and reduce the likelihood of symptoms
improving: parental criticism. Their study used a sample of 515 children, consisting
of 388 children diagnosed with ADHD (based on the DSM-IV criteria) and 127
children in a control group. The parents were asked to talk about their
relationship with their child non-stop for a period of five minutes, which was
recorded and analysed by experts, on two occasions one year apart. The experts measured
levels of criticism (harsh, negative statements) and emotion over-involvement
(over-protective feelings). The researchers also tracked the ADHD symptom
progression of the children during this period of time.
The
results were very interesting. Firstly, children with ADHD were more likely
than non-ADHD children to have parents that displayed high parental criticism.
Secondly, high parental criticism at both times of measurement was associated
with the maintenance of ADHD symptoms in the children who had been diagnosed
with ADHD. In other words, the children with ADHD whose parents expressed
stable, high criticism defied the typical decline in symptoms. Conversely, ADHD
and non-ADHD children did not significantly differ when parents displayed stable,
high emotion over-involvement.
Sure,
more research is needed to investigate this issue further, but this
investigation does present compelling evidence that critical parenting is
related to reduced remission in children’s ADHD symptoms. This has clear
applied implications: we need to get better at helping parents of ADHD children
to avoid using a parenting method that only serves to exacerbate the problem.
References
Musser, E. D., Karalunas, S. L., Dieckmann, N., Peris,
T. S., & Nigg, J. T. (2016). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
developmental trajectories related to parental expressed emotion. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(2), 182.