Evaluation of parents of children diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in terms of modern psychotraumatology and psychopathology

The primary objective of our doctoral research is to compare the childhood traumas, dissociative experiences, psychopathological histories, posttraumatic growth levels, and child- rearing styles between parents of children with attention deficient hyperactivity disorders, and parents of children without any of these disorders from modern psychotraumatological and dissoanalysis perspectives. This study employs a mixed method approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The sample is divided into the diagnosed and undiagnosed groups. The first group of the sample, namely parents of the diagnosed group, consists of the parents of 60 children diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder aged between 5 and 11, who are enrolled as pupils in public primary schools located on the Asian side of Istanbul. The second group, namely the parents of the undiagnosed group, consists of parents of 60 additional children who share similar demographics but do not have any diagnosis. The initial phase of the study involves conducting a quantitative analysis on a sample of 240 participants, divided into four groups (diagnosed group: 60 mothers, 60 fathers; undiagnosed group: 60 mothers, 60 fathers). The second phase consists of a qualitative investigation conducted through 60 semi-structured interviews with four groups (diagnosed group: 15 mothers, 15 fathers; undiagnosed group: 15 mothers, 15 fathers). Data were gathered through the utilization of various assessment tools, including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory and, the Conner's Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form, which was administered during face-to-face interviews. The Qualitative Semi-Structured Interview Form designed by the researcher was utilized during face to face interviews. Both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected using the survey and interview instruments. Frequency distribution test, independent samples t test, pearson correlation analysis, multiple linear regression analysis, mediation analysis and bootstrapping analysis have been executed over the gathered data. The quantitative analysis revealed that statistically, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire mean score (38,05) of the diagnosed group was found to be significantly higher than the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire mean score (31,43) of the undiagnosed group; the Dissociative Experiences Scale mean score (18,45) of the diagnosed group was found to be significantly higher than the Dissociative Experiences Scale mean score (11,61) of the diagnosed group; the Brief Symptom Inventory mean score (42,35) of the diagnosed group was found to be significantly higher than the Brief Symptom Inventory mean score (23,50) of the undiagnosed group; the oppositional subdimension of the Conner's Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form mean score (7,88) of the diagnosed group was found to be significantly higher than the oppositional subdimension of the Conner's Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form mean score (2,84) of the undiagnosed group; the cognitive problems subdimension of the Conner's Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form mean score (9,13) of the diagnosed group was found to be significantly higher than the cognitive problems subdimension of the Conner's Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form mean score (1,68) of the undiagnosed group; the hyperactivity subdimension of the Conner's Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form mean score (7,21) of the diagnosed group was found to be significantly higher than the hyperactivity subdimension of the Conner's Parent Rating Scale-Revised Short Form mean score (1,70) of the undiagnosed group and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder index score (18,57) of the diagnosed group was found to be significantly higher than the total Attention Deficit And Hyperactivity Disorder Index scores (5,17) of the undiagnosed group (p<,001). Moreover, statistically the expectations of children subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (20,93) of the diagnosed group was significantly lower than the expectations of children subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (24,83) of the undiagnosed group; the parental empathy towards children's needs subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (31,91) of the diagnosed group was significantly lower than the parental empathy towards children's needs subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (37,19) of the undiagnosed group; use of corporal punishment subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (38,90) of the diagnosed group was significantly lower than use of corporal punishment subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (44,53) of the undiagnosed group; parent-child family roles subdimension of the Adult- Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (21,65) of the diagnosed group was significantly lower than parent-child family roles subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (24,40) of the undiagnosed group; children's power and independence subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (18,25) of the diagnosed group was significantly lower than children's power and independence subdimension of the Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory mean score (20,30) of the undiagnosed group (p<,001). In between groups, the scores of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory didn't display any statistically significant difference. The correlation analysis revealed statistically significant associations between variables. Specifically, there were a statistically positive significant correlation between childhood trauma and dissociative experiences (r=.399; p<.001), psychiatric symptoms (r=.254; p<.001), and symptoms of ADHD in their children (r=.284; p<.001); a statistically negative significant correlation between expectations of children (r=-.333; p<.001), parental empathy towards children's needs (r=-.375; p<.001), use of corporal punishment (r=-.383; p<.001), parent-child family roles (r=-.336; p<.001), children's power and independence (r=-.413; p<.001) and post-traumatic growth (r =- .185, p<.05). Regression analysis utilized for variables in diagnosed group displayed that childhood trauma (R=.345; R2=.080); dissociative experiences (R=.390; R2=.145); expectations of children (R=.292; R2=.077), the parental empathy towards children's needs (R=.328; R2=.100), use of corporal punishment (R=.293; R2=.078), children's power and independence (R=.331; R2=.102) predicted the symptoms of ADHD in children statistically significantly. The mediation models were hypotized in compliance with Hayes's Model 4 and tested via SPSS PROCESS. It was found that childhood trauma had indirect effects (ß=.130; p<,05) on the symptoms of ADHD in children through the mediation of dissociative experiences. Childhood trauma had indirect effects (ß= ,106; p<,05) on the symptoms of ADHD in children through the mediation of parental empathy towards children's needs. Childhood trauma had both direct (ß=,208; p<,05) and indirect effects (ß= ,082; p<,05) on the symptoms of ADHD in children through the mediation of expectations of children. Childhood trauma had both direct (ß=,195; p<,05) and indirect effects (ß=,094; p<,05) on the symptoms of ADHD in children through the mediation of use of corporal punishment. Childhood trauma had both direct (ß=,195; p<,05) and indirect effects (ß=,095; p<,05) on the symptoms of ADHD in children through the mediation of children's power and independence. As a result of the qualitative analysis of the study nine different themes were created: "challenging characteristics of children", "positive characteristics of children", " challenging /traumatic experiences of parents", "positive childhood experiences of parents", "functional family characteristics", "dysfunctional family characteristics", "negative feelings that parents feel towards their children", "child-rearing process" and "pregnancy process". The qualitative analysis of the study revealed that parents in the diagnosed group exhibit a higher prevalence of adult and childhood traumatic experiences, dysfunctional family dynamics, negative emotions towards the child, compulsive child-rearing, and challenging pregnancy experiences compared to parents in the undiagnosed group. Also, it was found that the undiagnosed group parents had more positive childhood experiences, functional family characteristics, comfortable child raising and pregnancy experiences than the diagnosed group parents. Our doctoral dissertation provides substantiation that the childhood trauma experienced by parents results in dissociative occurrences, psychiatric symptoms, deficient and incompetent parenting methodologies in persons, and subsequently has an adverse impact on offspring, culminating in heightened ADHD symptoms and an augmented prevalence of ADHD diagnoses among youngsters. Our broad and novel scientific study examines attention deficient hyperactivity disorder from a psychotraumatological and dissoanalytic approach. Our PhD study, which demonstrates that the long-term effects of childhood trauma may extend to later generations, emphasizes the notion that, with a dissoanalytic approach, it is possible to neutralize the short- and long-term negative psychological effects of intergenerational transmission of trauma, to promote functional families, healthy and development-oriented generations.