An exploration of the relationship between parental stress and psychopathology within the context of childhood Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity

Abstract

The first part of this thesis is a systematic review of the literature on parental stress and mental health within the context of child ADHD. A total of 23 studies met inclusion criteria and a range of parental stress measures were employed. Findings suggest that irrespective of the parental stress measure, the level of stress experienced by parents of children with ADHD was elevated compared to non-clinical controls. Within studies that compared the degree of parental stress to other child clinical disorders, such as learning disability, autism or conduct disorder, the level of stress experienced by parents of children with ADHD was generally equivalent and occasionally lower. Rates of depression were found to be elevated for parents of children with ADHD compared to non-clinical controls. Parent-level interventions were found to reduce both parental stress and the degree of parental depression. However, the mechanisms by which these factors interact and influence one another are unclear. The review highlighted the need to investigate these mechanisms further, whilst controlling for covariates, such as child learning disability and autism. The review also highlighted a dearth of studies exploring these factors within a UK sample, which inspired the empiral study detailed in the second part of this thesis.

The second part of this thesis is an empirical paper investigating the relationship between child ADHD, parenting stress and maternal psychopathology within a UK sample. Findings showed that parents of children with an ADHD diagnosis experienced significantly higher stress, depression and anxiety compared to parents of non-clinical controls. Parenting stress was found to partially mediate the relationship between child ADHD, maternal depression and anxiety. Clinical and theoretical implications of these findings were discussed and directions for future research suggested.

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ORCID for Andrew Sibley: orcid.org/0000-0002-2503-5432

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