Adult Adjustment and Personality of Individuals Considered Hyperactive as Children: Predictions from Reports of Early Mother-Child Interactions

There is ample evidence in the literature that children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) continue to have difficulties in adolescence and adulthood. In addition to continued problems of impulsivity, attentional difficulties, and restlessness, adolescents and adults who were diagnosed as ADHD in childhood also display a number of other adjustment problems, including low self-esteem, and greater involvement in delinquency and misconduct. The current investigation examined childhood hyperactivity, subject sex, and early mother-child interactions, as predictors of adolescent misconduct, self-esteem, and locus of control orientation. Subjects were 182 college students, approximately half of whom reported that they had been considered hyperactive as children, and 108 of their mothers. Actual ratings of hyperactivity were based on a composite score derived from a number of survey questions regarding childhood hyperactivity, in combination with retrospective ratings of students' childhood behavior on the Conners Parent Rating Scale, which were completed by both students and their mothers. Multiple regression analyses indicated that parenting variables added significantly to the prediction of adult adjustment and personality variables that was possible from childhood hyperactivity alone. It was found that the same parenting behaviors were associated with different outcomes in hyperactive versus non-hyperactive individuals. Whereas negative control styles predicted greater misconduct and lower self-esteem in non-hyperactive individuals, they appeared to be less detrimental to subjects who were considered hyperactive as children. Poor parenting quality was predictive of greater misconduct in males, but unrelated to misconduct in females. Maternal acceptance was found to be a strong predictor of self-esteem for most subjects. The data did not support a direct relationship between hyperactivity and locus of control orientation. Externality did appear to be related to maternal use of psychological control, and to the use of lax discipline with a hyperactive child, although the overall level of prediction from these variables was low. The data provides support for a treatment paradigm emphasizing the importance of external structure for the ADHD child, but in conjunction with very warm, and highly accepting parenting by the mother.