The impact of preschool child and maternal attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms on mothers’ perceived chronic stress and hair cortisol

Providing care for a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with parenting stress. Moreover, adults with elevated ADHD symptoms report increased perceived stress. Despite this, it has rarely been examined whether and how child and maternal ADHD symptoms may affect m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Neural Transmission 2021-09, Vol.128 (9), p.1311-1324
Main Authors: Szép, Anna, Skoluda, Nadine, Schloß, Susan, Becker, Katja, Pauli-Pott, Ursula, Nater, Urs M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - complications
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Hydrocortisone
Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mothers
Neurology
Neurosciences
Pituitary-Adrenal System
Psychiatry
Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original
Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original Article
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Summary:Providing care for a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with parenting stress. Moreover, adults with elevated ADHD symptoms report increased perceived stress. Despite this, it has rarely been examined whether and how child and maternal ADHD symptoms may affect maternal perceived stress and the stress-sensitive hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. This study therefore investigated the possible impact of child and maternal ADHD symptoms on mothers' perceived chronic stress and hair cortisol concentration (HCC), while simultaneously considering the effects of child oppositional defiant/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) and maternal depressive symptomatology. In total, 124 mothers (35.96 ± 5.21 years) of preschool children were included. Maternal perceived stress, ADHD and depressive symptoms were assessed using self-report measures. Child ADHD symptoms were assessed using an interview and questionnaires completed by mothers and teachers. Additionally, mothers provided information about their children’s ODD/CD symptoms. Hair samples were taken from mothers to assess HCC. Child and maternal ADHD, child ODD/CD, and maternal depressive symptoms accounted for 50% of the variance in perceived chronic stress ( F (4, 119) = 30.24; p  
ISSN:0300-9564
1435-1463
DOI:10.1007/s00702-021-02377-1