The child's experience of ADHD

Area of Science:

• Child psychology
• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Quality of Life research

Background:

• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) significantly impacts children's lives.
• Understanding the child's perspective on their quality of life (QoL) is crucial for effective intervention.
• Discrepancies between parent and child reports of QoL in ADHD populations are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the agreement between parent- and child-reported QoL in children with ADHD.
• To investigate the relationship between QoL perceptions and self-worth in children with ADHD.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional survey design was employed.
• School-aged children diagnosed with ADHD and their parents participated.
• Data collection involved self-report questionnaires for children and parents.

Main Results:

• Parents generally reported lower child QoL than children did across most domains.
• Children who perceived their QoL more positively than their parents reported higher self-worth.
• No significant differences in ADHD symptoms, oppositional symptoms, or age were found based on QoL reporting discrepancies.

Conclusions:

• Eliciting both parent and child perspectives is essential for a comprehensive understanding of functional impairment in ADHD.
• Children reporting lower QoL than their parents exhibit lower self-worth, indicating a potential risk for internalizing difficulties.
• These findings highlight the importance of considering subjective child experiences in managing ADHD.