Iranian Children With ADHD and Mental Health of Their Mothers: The Role of Stress

BACKGROUND: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder that can result in stress for the mother, resulting in poor health. OBJECTIVES: The current study, conducted in 2012, aims to assess stress among forty-six Iranian mothers of ADHD children (Group 1) who were admitted to a psychiatric center in Tehran with forty-six Iranian mothers of normal children (Group 2) in 2012. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4), the child behavior checklist (CBCL) and the parental stress index-short form (PSI/SF) were completed. Data was analyzed using the Levene test and the independent t-test in SPSS Version 18. RESULTS: With the exception of mood, ADHD children had more problems in attention compared with normal children. As a result, mothers of ADHD children had more stress compared with the controls. CONCLUSIONS: ADHD can impair a mother’s mental health by inducing stress. Specific diagnostic and treatment programs should be designed and tailored for the mothers of ADHD children in order to decrease stress.