MONDAY, Feb. 19, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Making parenting changes early in a child's development may reduce symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), new research suggests. ing.
If a preschooler exhibits an “excitable or energetic” temperament, abandoning a “controlling” style of parenting in favor of so-called “directive” parenting may reduce the risk of ADHD as the child gets older. Canadian researchers report that symptoms may be less severe.
“More directive parenting, in which children are guided through verbal and physical cues rather than controlling, can help children develop self-regulation skills and prevent an increase in ADHD symptoms,” the study says. co-author Dr. Heather Henderson explained. He majored in developmental psychology at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
Psychologists have long understood that the interaction between a child's temperament and a mother's or father's parenting style can influence the development of ADHD. Both factors influence the executive functions of children's brains, the researchers explained.
The researchers added that a certain type of temperament, namely the enthusiastic personality, is associated with the development of ADHD.
Enthusiasm involves “high excitement, curiosity, and positive reactions to unfamiliar people and situations,” Henderson explained in a university news release.
While there are some positive aspects to frenzy, it is also associated with problems with behavioral self-regulation, as well as problems with working memory and flexible thinking.
When combined with family factors, an active temperament “may make some children more susceptible to developing symptoms of ADHD,” Henderson said.
In the study, her team tracked the outcomes of 291 children aged 4 months to 15 years. They observed children's temperament and parent-child interactions at age 3, tested children's memory and thinking at age 4, and tracked children's ADHD symptoms (as reported by parents) up to age 15.
Key findings: ADHD symptoms, which focus on memory and thinking, may depend on a combination of the child's temperament and the mother's or father's parenting style.
Children with parents who have a less “directive” style tend to have increased symptoms of ADHD throughout childhood, researchers recently reported in the journal ADHD. Research on psychopathology in children and adolescents.
“ADHD symptoms typically stabilize between ages 5 and 9 and decline between ages 9 and 15. However, in predictable cases where very young temperaments are active and less directive parenting is used, , such stabilization may not occur,” Henderson explained.
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Source: University of Waterloo, News Release, February 15, 2024
For parents of preschoolers with “energetic'' temperaments, changing parenting styles may minimize ADHD symptoms in the future.
