Investigation of the attention and anxiety levels and cognitive flexibility of parents of children diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder

The main purpose of this study is to comparatively examine the anxiety, attention and cognitive flexibility levels of parents of children diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and parents of children without any psychiatric diagnosis. The study was conducted with the participation of a total of 213 parents residing in Istanbul and having children between the ages of 5-18. The Demographic Information Form developed by the researcher was used to determine the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. The State and Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to measure anxiety levels, the Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scale was used to assess attention levels and the Cognitive Flexibility Scale was used to determine cognitive flexibility levels. According to the findings, a strong, positive and statistically significant relationship was found between the trait anxiety scores of the parents and attention deficit disorder scores. On the other hand, a moderate, negative and significant relationship was observed between cognitive flexibility scores and anxiety levels. In addition, a high level, negative and significant correlation was found between cognitive flexibility scores and attention deficit disorder scores.