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. 2017 Jun;26(6):723-732.
doi: 10.1007/s00787-017-0940-z. Epub 2017 Jan 7.

The role of socio-economic disadvantage in the development of comorbid emotional and conduct problems in children with ADHD

Eirini Flouri  1 , Emily Midouhas  2 , Alexandra Ruddy  2 , Vanessa Moulton  2
Affiliations

The role of socio-economic disadvantage in the development of comorbid emotional and conduct problems in children with ADHD

Eirini Flouri et al. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

Previous research shows that, compared to children without ADHD, children with ADHD have worse socio-emotional outcomes and more experience of socio-economic disadvantage. In this study, we explored if and how the increased emotional and behavioural difficulties faced by children with ADHD may be accounted for by their more disadvantaged socio-economic circumstances. Our study, using data from 180 children (149 boys) with ADHD from the Millennium Cohort Study, had two aims. First, to examine the role of socio-economic disadvantage in the trajectories of emotional and conduct problems in children with ADHD at ages 3, 5, 7 and 11 years. Second, to explore the roles of the home environment (household chaos) and parenting (quality of emotional support, quality of the parent-child relationship and harsh parental discipline) in mediating any associations between socio-economic disadvantage and child emotional and conduct problems. Using growth curve models, we found that socio-economic disadvantage was associated with emotional and conduct problems but neither the home environment nor parenting attenuated this association. Lower quality of the parent-child relationship and harsher discipline were associated with more conduct problems. It appears that socio-economic disadvantage and parenting contribute independently to the prediction of comorbid psychopathology in children with ADHD.

Keywords: ADHD; Comorbidity; Conduct problems; Emotional problems; Parenting; Socio-economic disadvantage.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Weighted mean trajectory of emotional problems of ADHD and non-ADHD children
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Weighted mean trajectory of conduct problems of ADHD and non-ADHD children
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