Examining daily parent involvement in caregivers of children with ADHD using electronic diaries

Limited research has examined the associations between child ADHD symptoms and parent involvement and has generally relied on the use of parents' retrospective reports of parent involvement and ADHD symptoms. Using daily reports, the current study explored the pathways between child ADHD symptoms and home-based parental involvement beliefs and behaviors. Data were collected daily from 26 parent participants over a 2-week period for a total of 315 time points. Daily surveys asked parents to report on child ADHD symptoms, parental self-efficacy, parental time/energy, and home-based involvement quality. Results indicated that parental self-efficacy mediated the association between children's inattentive symptoms and parental home-based involvement quality. Children's hyperactive/impulsive symptoms moderated the association between parental time/energy and parental home-based involvement quality. These results suggest that parental self-efficacy is an important factor in explaining how children's inattention is associated with parental quality of home-based involvement. In addition, the association between parental time/energy and home-based involvement quality was lower when parents perceived their child to have higher levels of symptoms.