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Parental criticism may contribute to prolonged ADHD symptoms

Parental criticism may contribute to worsening attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, according to recent findings.

“Why ADHD symptoms decline in some children as they reach adolescence and not for others is an important phenomenon to be better understood. The finding here is that children with ADHD whose parents regularly expressed high levels of criticism over time were less likely to experience this decline in symptoms,” Erica Musser, PhD, of Florida International University, Miami, said in a press release.

To assess effects of parental emotions on ADHD developmental trajectories, researchers evaluated 388 children with ADHD and 127 controls up to three time points 1 year apart. Study participants were aged 7 to 13 years. Parental emotion, criticism and emotional over-involvement were coded from a 5-minute speech sample at two time points, 1 year apart.

Latent-class growth analysis of parent-rated hyperactivity indicated a 4-class trajectory solution; teacher-rated inattention indicated a 3-trajectory solution; and teacher-rated oppositional-defiant disorder indicated a 3-trajectory solution.

When controlling for oppositional-defiant disorder symptoms, children with parent-rated high persistent hyperactivity were more likely to have parents with stable high criticism (34.6%; P < .001).

When controlling for hyperactivity, children with teacher-identified high worsening oppositional-defiant disorder were more likely to experience high criticism (87.5%; P < .001).

“We cannot say, from our data, that criticism is the cause of the sustained symptoms,” Musser said in the release. “Interventions to reduce parental criticism could lead to a reduction in ADHD symptoms, but other efforts to improve the severe symptoms of children with ADHD could also lead to a reduction in parental criticism, creating greater well-being in the family over time.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Please see the full study for a list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.