Personality Characteristics of Mothers of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as Assessed by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

OBJECTIVE: The current study investigated the personality characteristics of mothers of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). METHODS: Fifty mothers (average age of 38.1±4.2 years) of children with ADHD not having comorbidity (37 boys, 13 girls; average age of 8.5±1.9 years) and 59 mothers (average age of 38.1±2.7 years) of comparison children (37 boys, 13 girls; average age of 8.1±1.5 years) completed the Korean version of the MMPI. Only mothers whose psychiatric health was verified by the Structured Clinical Interview for axis-I DSM-IV disorders (SCID-IV) were included in current study. RESULTS: After controlling for maternal age, maternal education level, children's gender, age, and total and verbal intelligence quotient (IQ), the MMPI scores of the mothers of children with ADHD were significantly higher on the depression (D), hysteria (Hy) and psychasthenia (Pt) scales than those of the mothers of children in the comparison group. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that even psychologically healthy mothers of children with ADHD alone might be depressed, histrionic and anxious.