Oct 24, 2008
Divorce More Likely In ADHD Families?
Parents Of ADHD Kids Nearly Twice As Likely To Split As Families Without ADHD, Study Shows
-
(CBS/AP)
-
Interactive ADHD: Help And Info Find out where to get help for ADHD. Plus: The best strategies for dealing with ADHD.
-
E-MAIL US Divorce and Money Do you and your spouse want a divorce, but you're staying together for financial reasons? We want to hear from you!
"We've known that ADHD kids can be very stressful for their parents," says William E. Pelham Jr., PhD, professor of psychology and pediatrics at the University at Buffalo and the study's senior author. "What this [new study] shows is that stress occurs in the marriage as well as in other aspects of the parents' lives."
Having a child with ADHD "probably causes a lot of arguments" between the husband and wife about how to handle the situation, Pelham tells WebMD. ADHD affects 5 percent or more of U.S. children, with symptoms including an inability to concentrate and follow directions, forgetfulness, and a tendency to daydream.
"If they don't get together on how to solve the problem, the child's behavior is not going to improve," he says. "The situation gets worse, and if those arguments don't get resolved, not only does the child's parenting not improve but the marriage worsens - and almost a quarter of the families get divorced."
ADHD & Divorce
Pelham and his colleagues collected data from the parents of 282 teens and young adults diagnosed with ADHD in childhood who were part of a larger research study, the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS). They also evaluated the parents of 206 teens and young adults without the disorder.
The parents answered questions about how long they had been married, their educational levels, and any history of depression, substance abuse, or antisocial behavior.
The child's birth date, not the date of the parents' marriage, was the starting point. The parents of children with ADHD had been married nearly five years before the child with ADHD was born and the parents of the children without ADHD had been married a little over five years before the child was born.
ADHD & Divorce: Study Results
Nearly twice as many parents of ADHD children had divorced by the time the child was age 8, the study showed. Although 22.7 percent of the parents with ADHD children had divorced by the time the affected child was 8, just 12.6 percent of parents whose children did not have ADHD had split by the time the child was 8.
Certain risk factors in the children and the parents made divorce more likely, researchers found. If the child had coexisting disorders, such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or conduct disorder (CD), it boosted the risk. A father's own antisocial behavior - such as having a DUI - boosted divorce risk. So did a discrepancy in the amount of education between partners - such as a mother having a low level and a father a high level.
"The bright spot is, the majority did not get divorced, even though the rate is twice as high," Pelham tells WebMD. Previous research, done by others, has found that mothers of children with ADHD are three times more likely to split up with their husbands than are mothers of children without ADHD.
Another potentially bright spot: the proportion of parents who divorced after the child with ADHD turned 8 did not differ significantly.
That finding may simply mean that "people have learned to cope and deal with the situation," Pelham tells WebMD. ADHD is typically treated with medication, behavior therapy, or both.
The study is published in the October issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The first author is Brian Wymbs, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh.
ADHD & Divorce: Interpretations
Parents of ADHD children have tremendous stress, says Pelham, who has researched that in other studies.
More stress can occur, he says, if parents disagree on what treatment to offer the child.
"One of the problems in families with ADHD kids is one parent will be really concerned it's a problem and the other won't see it as a problem," Pelham says. A mother, for instance, may deal with school officials and hear their concerns, he says, while a father may dismiss the behavior in a son with ADHD as "He's just all boy."
"Sometimes you get differences in parental perceptions, leading to disagreements," he says.
Second Opinions: ADHD & Divorce
The study findings come as no surprise to other experts. "We've suspected that marital discord and divorce are higher among families with children with ADHD, but this study shows that in a clear way," says Charlotte Johnston, PhD, professor of psychology and a long-time researcher on ADHD at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, who trained with Pelham as a graduate student.
"I think what this really adds is looking at the predictors, showing there are child characteristics as well as parent characteristics."
The study findings seem to reflect anecdotal findings, says Bryan Goodman, a spokesman for CHADD, Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a self-help organization that has more than 200 chapters for parents nationwide. "It's very stressful for families dealing with this disorder."
Often, he tells WebMD, parents simply are not on the same page. "You can have one parent who understands that the child has the disorder and that treatment is available and that it's important the child be treated. And you may have another parent having a hard time coming to terms with it and is reluctant to have the child treated."
ADHD & Families: Advice
Parents need to work together, says Pelham. They need to focus, he says, on learning better parenting skills. "Learning better skills as parents will not only improve a child's function, but help them resolve disagreements and reduce or minimize stress within the marriage."
Thinking long-term is crucial, he says. "Parent should not be thinking, 'I will solve this in the next four weeks," he says. They should be aware, too, that the core symptoms - problems paying attention, impulse control - tend to get better as a child gets older but that not all symptoms improve with age.
Help for parents is available through such programs as the University at Buffalo's Center for Children and Families, which Pelham directs, and organizations such as CHADD.
By Kathleen Doheny
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2005-2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 22 Commentstreatment must be tailored
to each individual including
volitional choices and consequences
therapy is not about fluffing a sacherine
belief with further feel good nonsense it is
about grounding in true reality and making wellness
oriented choice by evolution of consciousness being
he will say "we have to cut"
When you see a psychiatrist she will say
"we have to medicate"
very few these days are healers
and most simply practice business
as efficiently as possible
assembly line
write a script $$$
cost effective
taking time to sort things out
and engender volitional change
= poor business practice
guild of w/h/o/r/e 101 $$$
scape goat the established
whipping boy with a lifetime
of profitable modern day curse
and cover the tracks of
incompetent parenting
(not united in nurture)
ADHD diagnosis higher in failed (incompetent)
marriages.
How easy is it to blame the child whom surprise
utilizes the same spiritual defenses to protect
from parental incompetence and mayhem-
Such as daydreaming
so - called adults in actuality more like
posturing siblings can easily hang the whipping
boy out to dry in big pharma molestation
Unfortunately, I became a heavy smoker in high school and smoked off and on until I was in my 30s. When I quit, my ADD manifested again big time and my life was turned upside down. Then I saw a program about ADD one night and got properly diagnosed. My doctor confirmed that I had been self-medicating with tobacco for years. Now I am on medication that has made an amazing difference in my life.
My advice to parents is to have your child properly diagnosed by a psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD. Encourage physical activity and creative outlets. ADD kids aren''t "sick" -- they are just different and need to learn organizational techniques that work for them. You may have to remind them more times than other kids to clean their room and do their homework. They are not deliberately trying to disobey you -- they''ve just been distracted by something more interesting to do!
Please make sure they know how many successful, creative professionals are out there who -- like me -- have learned to harness their ADD different-ness.
The first is that it is more likely that friction in the family inflames the behavior of the children and the shrink finds an opening manipulates the parents and victimizes the child. It is only ADHD in the mind of the quack.
Next the genetic link is a statistical link only. I found no research that says otherwise. Shrinks love statistics because they can be manipulated.
Third there is a more credible statistical link between the socalled ADHD and pesticides than there is to genetics.
Fourth, if the parents had a stable home life it would minimise the excessive odd behavior. Bear in mind that kids often exhibit odd behavior in the view of the adults but it is generally within a normal range.
Fifth, it does not matter what you call it since the shrinks can only drug the kid and have no idea how to fix the problem even in the rare event that there is a real problem.
Finally you must recall that shrinks are opportunists who love to victimize children. The have no answers only the desire for control and money. If you put a child (or anyone) in their hands you are creating a problem instead of solving one.
My niece had a brain tumor when she was 5. About three years into her recovery, my brother-in-law took off for Mexico with his 16 year old girl friend. It all goes back to the level of maturity of both parents.
--
Thank you for sharing. I too was classified ADHD* and had pretty much the same situation as you as a child. My parents are still together (40 years and still strong), though to be honest, they once accused me of using drugs. ((I had not. Never had, never will.))
* (which is true, as is the later diagnosis of Asperger''s Syndrome -- a condition not recognized in America in the 1970s)
ill suited behavior and manipulate symptoms and
claim it''s new magic pill to be essential and
the cause to be "chemical imbalance" or the
latest escape from responsibilty "genetic"
it''s not your fault is a vast and profitable
excuse industry now being used to excuse
infantile consumption patterns and the
consequences of volitionally poor choice and sedentary behaviors-
lazy a/s/s primitive hocus pocus idiots
maybe they need to beg/pray more for the
magic wand treatment/therapy
it''s not your fault
by big pharma poisoning children
everywhere especially egregious
when a dysfunctional marriage by
un-united squabling siblings masquerading
as competent breeding adults cause their
otherwise genetically undisturbed progeny
to be cast out in whipping boy shame as the
reason for the split when in fact the other
way around - the child utilizes similar
spiritual defenses to self protect and
when the home life is dysfunctional due
to incompetent parenting we invite big
pharma to the "rescue"$$$ and wallah
diagnosed whipping boy hung out to dry
Anyhow a long way of saying that I think this article was not thorough enough and so it looks like the parents were untouched by ADHD in their own bodies or minds. If you have any doubt, look up books by Hallowell and Ratey. Both MD''s.
For those of you who already commented or are looking at this, I can tell you from personal experience and seeing the research out there, that ADHD is also a blessing that touches the lives of some of our most creative citizens - whether artists or entrepreneurs. But this doesn''t make these people the easiest to live with.
Anyhow if you wish to blame the genetics do so, but don''t blame me if I suggest that people are probably looking at your behavior too, if you are prone to reacting that way.
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 22 Comments