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. 2012 May;16(4):267-75.
doi: 10.1177/1087054710387264. Epub 2010 Dec 20.

Association of parental ADHD and depression with externalizing and internalizing dimensions of child psychopathology

Kathryn L Humphreys  1 , Natasha Mehta, Steve S Lee
Affiliations

Association of parental ADHD and depression with externalizing and internalizing dimensions of child psychopathology

Kathryn L Humphreys et al. J Atten Disord. 2012 May.

Abstract

Objective: To study the independent association of parental depression and ADHD on three dimensions of child psychopathology among 178 children aged 5 to 10 years.

Method: Self-reported measures of parental depression and ADHD as well as rating scales and structure diagnostic interviews of child internalizing, ADHD, and externalizing problems were obtained.

Results: Structural equation modeling indicated that parental ADHD was positively associated with a broad child problems factor after a second-order factor of child problems best accounted for the high intercorrelations among the internalizing, ADHD, and externalizing child psychopathology factors. Parental depression did not significantly predict the second-order child problems factor, but it specifically predicted the child internalizing factor.

Conclusion: These results suggest that parental ADHD may be a nonspecific risk factor for child psychopathology broadly, whereas parental depression may function as a specific risk factor for child internalizing problems.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Theoretical model of the association between parental depression and parental ADHD with child internalizing, ADHD, and externalizing symptom factors (N = 178) Note: INT = internalizing factor; EXT = externalizing factor. Standardized parameter estimations are shown (*p < .05 on unstandardized coefficients) and errors are not shown.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Final model of the association between parental depression and parental ADHD with child internalizing, ADHD, and externalizing symptom factors (N = 178) Note: INT = internalizing factor; EXT = externalizing factor. Standardized parameter estimations are shown (*p < .05 on unstandardized coefficients) and errors are not shown.
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