Parental involvement in children's learning: Comparing parents of children with and without Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

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Abstract

The present study examined involvement in children's learning among parents of 101 children between 8 and 12 years of age (53 parents of children with ADHD, 48 parents of children without ADHD). Compared to parents of children without ADHD, parents of children with ADHD reported lower self-efficacy in their ability to help their children, felt less welcome and supported by their children's schools and teachers, and perceived less time and energy for involvement in their children's academic lives. Mothers of children with and without ADHD reported similar types and levels of involvement behaviors in the home. Fathers of children with ADHD reported being more disengaged from their children's learning and using more coercive and punitive interactions regarding their children's achievement compared to fathers of children without ADHD. These findings underscore the difficulties in parent-supported learning practices and home-school collaboration initiatives faced by parents of children with ADHD and educators alike. Implications for school psychology practice are discussed.

Section snippets

Parental involvement in children's learning

Parental involvement in children's learning is a multidimensional construct that entails a wide range of parental characteristics and behaviors, but broadly refers to activities in which parents engage to support the academic achievement of their children. Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (2005) proposed a multi-level model of the parental involvement process that focuses on why and how parents become involved in their children's education and how parent involvement influences children's academic

Participants

Participants were parents of 101 children, ages 8 to 12 years. The sample was comprised of parents of 53 children with ADHD (39 male, 14 female) and 48 children without ADHD (33 male, 15 female). There were three selection criteria for children in the ADHD sample: (a) full or estimated full scale IQ of 80 or above, (b) previous DSM-IV-based diagnosis of ADHD from a physician or psychologist, but no diagnosis of Tourette's Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Psychotic Disorder, or Bipolar

Psychological and contextual factors influencing parental involvement

A 2 (ADHD status) × 2 (grade level) ANCOVA was performed on each of the seven PIP-PQ subscales (role beliefs, parental efficacy, general school invitations, specific teacher invitations, specific child invitations, knowledge and skills, time and energy), covarying parents' education. The results are presented in Table 2. There were no significant effects for grade or the interaction between grade and ADHD status. Once parents' level of education was controlled, parents of children with ADHD

Discussion

The goal of this study was to compare parents of children with ADHD to parents of children without ADHD in terms of their self-reported parental involvement beliefs and behaviors. Parents' perceptions of contextual and psychological variables that influence involvement and home-based involvement behaviors were examined. Age effects were also investigated, and exploratory analyses examined the influence of children's oppositional behaviors and parents' own ADHD symptoms. The findings revealed

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      With regard to how parents' beliefs about parental involvement may relate to ADHD, a small set of studies has investigated this association. One study demonstrated that both self-efficacy and parental perceptions of their time/energy for involvement in their children's academic lives is lower among parents of elementary students (ages 8–12 years) with ADHD (with a prior ADHD diagnosis and current significant symptoms from two raters) as compared to parents of children without ADHD using a one-time survey (Rogers, Marton, & Tannock, 2009). A survey study by Ferretti et al. (2019) examined the interactive effects between parental self-efficacy for involvement in their child's achievement and inattention/hyperactivity symptoms in predicting academic achievement in a sample of 348 caregivers of children ages 8–12 years (57.5% male; 81.6% Caucasian; 9.5% Hispanic or Latino; 6.6% African American; 3.4% Asian) with measures collected at one time point.

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      For example, Rogers, Wiener, Marton, and Tannock (2009a) showed that parents of children with ADHD exhibited lower levels of quality involvement in their children’s schools. Interestingly, however, in a separate study they found that supportive parental involvement was still associated with higher academic achievement for these children (Rogers, Wiener, Marton, & Tannock, 2009b). Similarly, Corcoran and Dattalo (2006) conducted a meta-analytic review on psychosocial treatments for children with ADHD and concluded that parental involvement was positively associated with academic achievement.

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    The authors gratefully acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding this project, as well as Daniella Biondic and Amy Hsu for their assistance.

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