Neighborhood risks, maternal parenting entropy, and child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms

Adopting a multimethod, multi-informant, and three-wave longitudinal design, this study seeks to examine how maternal parenting entropy may operate as indirect factors between exposure to neighborhood risks and child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms over time. Participants were 235 families with a young child (at Wave 1, M child age = 2.97 years old) followed over three annual measurement occasions. We measured neighborhood risks based on Zone Improvement Plan-code-associated census data and assessed maternal parenting entropy via multiple aspects of molar-rated maternal parenting behavior within two mother-child interaction contexts. Findings indicated that exposure to greater neighborhood risks was associated with greater maternal parenting entropy over time and thereby elevated child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms; these findings emerged after accounting for the averaged level of parenting. Furthermore, context-specificity findings emerged such that only maternal parenting entropy within the "hot" but not the "cool" discipline context operated as the indirect factor between neighborhood risks and child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms. These findings provided important insights into the antecedents of unpredictable parenting behavior and also highlighted important intervention targets for mitigating mental-health risks for children exposed to neighborhood risks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).