Abstract
Numerous factors contribute to impairments and outcomes for children with ADHD. A key associated environmental factor is parenting stress, yet the mechanisms through which parental stress levels impact child functioning are relatively understudied. Studies have shown that stress levels impact parenting behaviours, mostly in relation to parenting styles; however, little is known about the impacts on connectedness within conversation, a factor known to have a positive impact on parent-child relationships and child outcomes (Ensor & Hughes, 2008). Therefore, this study examined whether maternal-child connectedness within conversation has a moderating effect on the relations between parenting stress and global functioning in children, after controlling for the impact of ADHD symptom severity. One hundred and forty-two families with children aged 6-12 years participated. Parenting stress was measured using the short form of the Parenting Stress Index; the level of maternal-child connectedness within conversation was coded using the Connectedness Coding Scale; ADHD symptom severity was measured by the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia–Present and Lifetime Version; and the Children’s Global Assessment Scale was used to measure child functioning. It was hypothesised that, in addition to being correlated with parenting stress and child global functioning, maternal-child conversational connectedness would moderate the relationship between parenting stress and child global functioning, after controlling for ADHD symptom severity. Hierarchical linear regression analysis indicated that, after controlling for total ADHD symptom severity, parenting stress related to perceptions of child difficulty accounted for unique variation in child functioning. When inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptom severity were entered separately, both stress related to difficult child perceptions and parental distress related to the parenting role accounted for unique variation in child functioning. Contrary to expectations, maternal-child connectedness within conversation did not account for any unique variation in child functioning and did not moderate the relationship between parenting stress and child global functioning. These results suggest that more severe levels of ADHD symptomatology may be associated with a decrease in maternal-child connectedness within conversation and an increase in parenting stress related to how difficult the child is perceived to be. Further, maternal-child connectedness may relate directly to parenting stress, and parenting stress may, in turn, be negatively associated with child global functioning.