Mothers’ stress and behavioral and emotional problems in children with ADHD. Mediation of coping strategies

The present study compared mothers’ stress and the behavioral/emotional problems of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and children with typical development (TD). Furthermore, the relationships among the mothers’ stress, the children’s behavioral/emotional problems, and the mothers’ coping strategies in both groups were identified. The contribution of behavioral/emotional problems to parenting stress in children with ADHD was also studied through mediation effects of the mothers’ coping strategies. The parenting stress, coping orientation to problems, and strengths and difficulties questionnaires were administered to 72 mothers of children from 7 to 11 years old: 35 with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD and 37 with typical development. The comparison analyses showed that the mothers’ stress and the behavioral/emotional problems of their children were significantly higher in the group with ADHD than in the group without ADHD. Correlation analyses revealed different correlation patterns in the two groups, with behavioral/emotional problems significantly associated with parenting stress and with the disengagement and cognitive reframing coping reported by the mothers of children with ADHD. In addition, the disengagement coping strategy was a significant mediator in the relationship between behavioral/emotional problems and mothers’ stress, according to the mediation analysis. The findings illustrate the need to include training in both behavioral strategies and coping strategies in counseling in order to help mothers buffer the impact of stress. This work is supported by the project PSI2016‐78109 (AEI/FEDER, UE) and by University of Valencia UV‐INV‐PREDOC15‐265889.