Investigation of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in children: The analysis of the mediation and moderation model

Objective: The aim of the present study is to examine the predictive power of child's gender, maternal ADHD symptoms, negative parental attitude and emotion regulation on children with ADHD. Another aim was investigation of the mediating role of parental attitude and the moderating role of emotion regulation in the relationships between maternal ADHD symptoms and parental attitude on ADHD. Method: The research group consisted of 87 children with ADHD and 84 children without ADHD. The following instruments were utilized: Emotion Regulation Checklist, Wender-Utah Rating Scale, Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire. In order to explain the mediating role of parental attitude and moderating role of emotion regulation on ADHD, the mediation and moderation model has been tested. Findings: At the end of the study, being male gender, having authoritarian parents and high levels of negative emotion regulation was found to increase the likelihood of children diagnosed with ADHD. In addition, it was found that maternal ADHD symptoms had not a direct effect on the classification of children with ADHD, but indirectly related to negative parental attitudes. This also increased the likelihood of the child being diagnosed with ADHD. Moreover, when children had high level of negative emotion regulation, authoritarian attitude didn't effect on the likelihood of children diagnosed with ADHD. However, when children had low or middle level of negative emotion regulation, the authoritarian attitude of the mother's had been found to be important on diagnosed with ADHD of their children. Discussion: Results of this study point out the importance of maternal ADHD symptoms, parental attitudes and emotion regulation. The findings were discussed in relation to recent study findings. Conclusion: These results can contribute to the planning and implementation of psychoeducati-onal program to improve emotion regulation skills for children with ADHD and to improve parenting skills for their parents.