Parents Of Hyperactive Children Research Articles

Salivary Cortisol Levels in Abused Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Introduction: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder during childhood. Family violence is a psychosocial factor that has been recently introduced in the literature about ADHD, with indications that parents of hyperactive children are more likely to use physical methods to their discipline. Cortisol as the primary stress hormone and as an index of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis regulation has been used to study the neurobiological profile of ADHD patients. Methods: This study was conducted on 50 ADHD children & 30 matched controls, severity was assessed using the Conners’ Parent Rating Scales-Revised long version, children IQ and exposure to abuse was measured; salivary cortisol levels was measured using enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay in two samples (ELISA). Aim of the study was to measure prevalence and impact of abuse on ADHD children and correlate results with salivary cortisol level Results: Results showed significant higher exposure of ADHD children to parental abuse than control group. Executive function showed to be impaired in abused ADHD children, lower bedtime cortisol level in abused ADHD children compared to control. There was a negative correlation between cortisol level and child abuse. In addition, there was a negative correlation between different types of abuse and components of WCST. While no correlation between both cortisol samples and components of WCST. Conclusion: We concluded that children with ADHD displayed higher exposure to parental abuse, lower cognitive function and this was linked to their lower levels of cortisol level.

The association between hyperkinesis and breakdown of parenting in clinic populations

Background: There is increasing recognition that child based, as well as parent based factors may be associated with children being excluded from their families. Despite the distress routinely observed among...

The construction of a food-behavior inventory to measure beliefs about the behavioral effects of food

It is not uncommon for people to believe that diseases and good health are associated with or caused by specific foods. For example, in rural India the citizenry have designated certain foods as or and believed that each type of food was responsible for specific diseases also designated as or (Pool, 1987). Thus a hot food, such as dried fish, could produce a hot disease, such as leprosy, while a cold food like bananas could produce a cough, a cold symptom. Abdussalam, Foster, and Kaferstein (1989) have reported that this hot-cold classification system is used by at least two billion people throughout the Orient, Southeast Asia, India, Pakistan, and Latin America for determining behavior related to growth, health, illness, and pregnancy. In Brazil, Trigo, Roncada, Stewien, and Pereira (1989) found that people believed that the simultaneous ingestion of milk and certain fruits, like mangoes, oranges, and pineapples, could cause harm to or even kill the consumer. Americans also make attributions about the effects of food on particular behaviors. People typically refer to the experience of a sugar high after eating highly sweetened foods. Popular writers, such as Feingold (1975) and Rapp (1979), have written about a link between food sensitivities and a variety of behavioral and physical symptoms. There is widespread belief among parents of hyperactive children in the efficacy of the Feingold diet (Conners, 1980), despite the lack of evidence that more than a minority of children demonstrate clinically significant behavioral effects from food dyes (Defined Diets and Childhood Hyperactivity, 1982; Weiss et al., 1980). Beliefs about food have important consequences for health practices. If certain attributions are made about particular foods, there is a potential for people to

Parenting Stress and the Child With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Presents a critical review of research concerning the stress of parenting a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Four lines of research have been pursued. First, studies demonstrate increased stress reported by parents of hyperactive children. Second, studies of parental psychopathology suggest that for some parents such disturbance is independent of the child's pathology and reflects a genetic substrate for the same and related disorders. Third, ADHD is associated with increased parental marital discord. Fourth, research regarding parent-child interaction patterns suggests a child-to-adult direction of effect more than the reverse. Directions for future research are recommended.

Sleep Disturbance in Preschool-Aged Hyperactive and Nonhyperactive Children

In spite of inadequate laboratory demonstrations of sleep problems in children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, the belief persists that such problems exist. Sleep restlessness is, in fact, one of the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, ed 3, definition of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, and sleep problems are listed on two major checklists often used for describing the symptoms of this disorder. In a series of three studies, sleep problems were investigated in preschool-aged children with attention deficit disorder relative to control children without the disorder. Results of the first two studies demonstrated clearly that parents of hyperactive children considered their children to have many more sleep problems than did parents of the control children. Parental daily documentation, which is less likely to be affected by reporting bias, was used in the third study. Although the results of the third study supported the finding of increased frequency of night wakings in these children, there was no difference in total sleep time or sleep onset latency between the two groups. Two other significant group differences (enuresis and night sweats) were primarily due to subgroups of children with attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity. The greater number of sleep wakings, which disrupt parents' sleep, may be responsible for the clinical reports that these children are poor sleepers.

Context effects in the behavioral ratings of hyperactivity.

It was proposed that parents of hyperactive children would observe more problems at home in some but not all home contexts. To test this hypothesis, parents of teacher-identified hyperactive and nonhyperactive children were asked to complete a context-specific behavioral rating scale ( Werry , 1968). Hyperactive children were rated by their parents as changing activities, talking, interrupting, and exhibiting dependency more than nonhyperactive children. Furthermore, those differences between hyperactive and control children were observed primarily in the play and homework contexts.

Adult psychiatric disorders in parents of hyperactive children.

The family histories of 140 children and adolescents with hyperactive child syndrome were compared with the family histories of 91 psychiatrically ill, age- and sex-matched patients who had a primary diagnosis other than hyperactive child syndrome. Parents of hyperactive children were more likely to have antisocial personality and Briquet's syndrome (hysteria) than were parents of nonhyperactive children; 11% of the hyperactive children had a parent with such a diagnosis. Parents of nonhyperactive children were more likely to have endogenous psychosis. The diagnosis of alcoholism did not significantly differentiate parents of the two groups of probands. These data support earlier studies and suggest a specific association between hyperactive child syndrome and the personality disorders of antisocial personality and hysteria.

Raising a Hyperactive Child, edited by Mark A. Stewart, M.D., and Sally Wendkos Olds (New York, Harper & Row, 1973, 299 pp, $8.95)

Pediatricians involved in helping parents of hyperactive children can recommend to them this readable, authoritative manual which by its positive, enthusiastic, but realistic tone will help them deal with difficulties presented by such children. They will find detailed advice on practical methods of influencing their children and their behavior to make life less trying for all in the short term and perhaps even in the long term. The lack of understanding of the basic cause of this abnormality of temperament and the absence of follow-up studies showing that the recommended management has beneficial long-term effects are conceded by the authors as limiting the authority of the text.

Diet in the management of hyperkinesis: a review of the tests of Feingold's hypotheses.

Through the 1970s, Benjamin Feingold has published a series of studies in which he claimed that a diet free of salicylates, artificial food flavours and colours results in a remission of symptoms in 30 to 50 percent of children diagnosed as hyperactive. Parents of hyperactive children have responded strongly to the hypothesis and have requested that their children be placed on the diet. A series of clinical studies of the Feingold diet have produced mixed results. More recently, there have been four sets of experimental studies which have resulted in rigorous tests of the original diet and a modified diet with salicylates included but artificial additives excluded. None of the studies give unqualified support for the hypothesized diet effects, and there are reports which refute the thesis. There are findings which suggest that some hyperactive children (10 to 25 percent), particularly younger ones, respond favourably to a diet free of artificial additives. The lack of conclusive evidence dictates that additional research be conducted to test the hypothesis.

Minor Physical Anomalies and Neurologic Status in Hyperactive Boys

The "hyperactivity" syndrome or "minimal brain dysfunction" has received considerable attention from teachers, psychologists and pediatricians over the past decade. The varied symptoms of restlessness, irritability, short attention span, impulsivity, motor incoordination and perceptual-cognitive disability may be prevalent in from 4% to 10% of grade school children. Several etiologic factors for this disorder have been proposed. In 1956 Rogers and Pasamanick found a higher rate of pregnancy complications for cases of behavior disorder compared to controls. Several replications of these findings have supported the postulate of a continuum of reproductive casualty in which disability varies with extent of damage. However, some recent studies of behavior disorders have not found a clear relationship among perinatal difficulties, neurologic signs, cognitive abnormalities and behavior problems. The evidence for genetic transmission of hyperactivity has also been examined; family clustering and sib half-sib studies have supported a genetic model. In addition, parents of hyperactive children have been noted to have a higher incidence of psychiatric disturbances not seen in their adoptive counterparts. The heterogeneity of this population and the variety of the theoretical models for the condition suggest that further clinical subclassification for hyperactive children is needed. In 1960 Daryn, examining 86 children with "diffuse brain damage," noted the frequent occurrence of minor physical anomalies for this group. Waldrop used the presence of minor physical anomalies to predict hyperactive behavior in a nursery school population. Waidrop and co-workers have reported four replications of this study with preschool populations, children with speech and hearing disorders, and an elementary school population. Rosenberg and Weller found that high ratings of minor physical anomalies were associated with school failure for an unselected population of 99 first-grade children.

Amphetamines in hyperkinetic children.

<h3>To the Editor.—</h3> In a LETTER TO THE EDITOR (<b>215</b>:1987, 1971), Duvernoy referred to a recent MEDICAL NEWS item on amphetamines in overactive children. He thought that drug treatment of these children might condition them to rely on drugs to cure many unpleasant situations, and suggested counselling as a better choice. Friends of his own children who were hyperkinetic and taking amphetamines came from broken homes with virtually absent parents and total permissiveness. Hyperactive children also come from the best homes. The hyperkinetic syndrome is determined frequently by biological factors and not environmental ones. It is true that sometimes lack of maternal consistency and later lack of supervision may cause restlessness in children, but it is not the mostfrequent cause. It is useful to know that parents of hyperactive children who do care for their youngsters do become frustrated because their children stimulate negative reactions in them. Amphetamines are