Mother-child relationships of children with ADHD: the role of maternal depressive symptoms and depression-related distortions.

Full Abstract

We investigated the Depression-->Distortion hypothesis by examining the effects of maternal depressive symptoms on cross-informant discrepancies in reports of child behavior problems and several measures of parent-child relationship. The sample included ninety-six 6 to 10-year-old children diagnosed with ADHD-Combined Type, and their mothers, who provided baseline data before participating in a randomized clinical trial. Measures incorporated child characteristics, self-reports of maternal depressive symptoms, parenting practices, and laboratory mother-child interactions. Elevations in maternal depressive symptoms were associated with maternal reports of negative parenting style but not with observed laboratory interactions. Mothers' levels of depressive symptoms predicted negative biases in their reports of their child's ADHD symptoms, general behavior problems, and their own negative parenting style. Whereas levels of depressive symptoms did not predict observed parenting behaviors, maternal distortions did predict problemaTic parent-child interactions. Exploratory analyses showed a marginally significant mediation effect of the relationship between maternal depressive symptomatology and reports of negative parenting by depressive distortions. We discuss implications of linkages between depressive symptoms in mothers, depression-related distortions, and mother-child relationships for research and intervention in developmental psychopathology.

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Author information

Author/s: Chi, Terry C (TC); Hinshaw, Stephen P (SP);

Affiliation: University of California, Berkeley 94720-1650, USA.

Grants: U01 MH50461 (Agency:United States NIMH)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Journal of abnormal child psychology (J Abnorm Child Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Aug; vol 30 (issue 4) : pp 387-400

Dates: Created 2002/07/10; Completed 2003/02/10; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 12109489, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - diagnosis; psychology; therapy
Child
Child of Impaired Parents - psychology
Combined Modality Therapy
Depression - diagnosis; psychology
Female
Humans
Male

Male
Mother-Child Relations
Mothers - psychology
Perceptual Distortion
Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data
Psychometrics
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Reproducibility of Results

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