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. 2020 Nov;24(13):1836-1846.
doi: 10.1177/1087054717718262. Epub 2017 Jul 8.

Parent Psychopathology and Neurocognitive Functioning in Children With ADHD

Sharifah Shameem Agha  1   2 , Stanley Zammit  1   3 , Anita Thapar  1 , Kate Langley  1
Affiliations

Parent Psychopathology and Neurocognitive Functioning in Children With ADHD

Sharifah Shameem Agha et al. J Atten Disord. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the association between parent mental health (ADHD and depression) and offspring performance on neurocognitive tasks in children with ADHD. Method: The clinical sample consisted of 570 children (85% males, mean age: 10.77 years) with ADHD who completed neurocognitive tasks measuring working memory, attention set-shifting, and motivational deficits. Questionnaire measures were used to assess ADHD and depression symptom presence in parents. Results: Controlling for ADHD severity, children of parents with ADHD had poorer working memory (B = -0.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] [-0.45, -0.07], p = .01) and increased errors on the extra dimensional shift stage of the set-shifting task (B = 0.26 95% CI [0.02, 0.50], p = .04). Parent depression was not associated with offspring performance on any of the assessed neurocognitive tasks. Conclusion: Children with ADHD who have a parent with ADHD symptom presence are a subgroup of children who may have additional neurocognitive impairments that have potential implications when implementing interventions that target cognition and learning.

Keywords: ADHD; neurocognitive functioning; parent ADHD; parent depression.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

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    1. Agha S. S., Zammit S., Thapar A., Langley K. (2017). Maternal psychopathology and offspring clinical outcome: A four-year follow-up of boys with ADHD. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 253-262. doi: 10.1007/s00787-016-0873-y - DOI - PMC - PubMed
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