Parent factors associated with anxiety in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Sarah R. O'Rourke (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Arthur Anastopoulos

Abstract: Around 25% of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) have an anxiety disorder (Tannock, 2000), and children with AD/HD are three times more likely than children in the general population to have an anxiety disorder (Angold, Costello, & Erkanli, 1999). Past research has identified negative or controlling parenting practices, parental psychopathology, child externalizing symptoms, and child educational difficulties as potential risk factors for anxiety in children with AD/HD. However, the mechanisms underlying the relation between AD/HD and anxiety are unclear. The goal of this study was to further examine the parent factors related to symptoms of anxiety in children with AD/HD. It was hypothesized that parental symptoms of AD/HD and inconsistent parenting practices would predict symptoms of anxiety in children with AD/HD. Child perceptions of control were also hypothesized to moderate the relation between parenting practices and child anxiety symptoms. The participants for the study included 28 children between the ages of 8 and 15 who had been diagnosed with AD/HD and at least one parent. A logistic regression analysis indicated that maternal psychopathology predicted a diagnosis of social phobia. Post-hoc analyses also indicated that mothers of children with AD/HD and social phobia had more symptoms of AD/HD than parents of children with AD/HD only. These findings have implications for theoretical understandings of AD/HD with comorbid anxiety, future research, and clinical practice with families of children with AD/HD.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2011
Keywords
ADHD, Anxiety, Risk factors
Subjects
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder $v Case studies
Parent and child $v Case studies
Anxiety in children $v Case studies

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