Comorbid LD and ADHD in childhood: socioemotional and behavioural adjustment and parents’ positive and negative affect

Abstract

The present study examined how vulnerability and protective factors at the individual level (child’s disabilities; patterns of attachment), and at the family level (fathers’/mothers’ affect), help explain differences in socioemotional and behavioural adjustment among children aged 8–12 years with comorbid learning disability (LD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or with typical development. Participants were 118 father–mother–child triads: 59 couples and children with comorbid LD/ADHD and 59 couples with typically developing children. Preliminary analyses indicated significant group differences on all children’s measures and on fathers’ and mothers’ affect measures. As hypothesised, findings showed the contribution of parents’ positive and negative affect to children’s adjustment, with differences for fathers’ versus mothers’ affect. Discussion focuses on understanding the unique value of fathers’ and mothers’ affect on children’s well‐adjusted functioning.