Self-efficacy levels of adolescents with and without attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and comparison of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms and self-efficacy levels of their parents

This study aims at comparing the self-efficacy levels of adolescents with and without attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to ADHD symptoms and self-efficacy levels of their parents. The participants of the study is composed of 46 adolescents without comorbidity between the ages of 14-17 who were followed-up with a diagnosis of ADHD in the Adolescent Unit of the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at Ankara University and their parents and 42 adolescents without any diagnosis studying in the secondary education in Ankara and their parents. Adolescents with and without ADHD were matched in terms of gender and class level. Adolescent participants completed the Self-Efficacy Scale in Adolescents along with socio-demographic form. Their parents completed the Self-Efficacy Scale, the Wender Utah Rating Scale and the Adult Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Scale with the socio-demographic form. In addition, they evaluated their children using DSM-IV-Based Screening and Assessment Scale. The data obtained from the study were analyzed with SPSS 23.0 package program. In order to test the hypothesis of the study, Student's t test was used for the comparison of the parameters of the normal distribution and Mann-Whitney U test was used for the two groups that did not show normal distribution. In the comparison of more than two independent groups, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for those with normal distribution and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for those who did not show normal distribution. As a result, it was found that the self-efficacy of adolescents diagnosed with and without ADHD did not change in terms of gender and age, and there was a significant difference between the general and academic self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents depending on the presence of ADHD diagnosis, and adolescents without ADHD have higher general and academic self-efficacy beliefs. It was also found that there was no significant difference between the groups when the social and emotional self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents were examined. The findings also show that in the group with ADHD, the social and emotional self-efficacy beliefs of the adolescents with only attention disorder were higher than the adolescents with attention disorder and hyperactivity, however, their academic and general self-efficacy beliefs did not differ. When the self-efficacy beliefs of the adolescents and their parents are considered, it was revealed that there is a low positive correlation between the self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents with and without ADHD and their mothers' self-efficacy beliefs, moreover, there was a positive and low significant relationship between the fathers' self-efficacy beliefs and the self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents without ADHD. When parents' self-efficacy beliefs were compared, the self-efficacy beliefs of mothers and fathers with children diagnosed with ADHD were significantly lower than those with children without ADHD. The findings also reveals that the self-efficacy beliefs of the mothers with children diagnosed with ADHD differed depending on their income level, and mothers with low income had low levels of parental self-efficacy, however, the self-efficacy beliefs of the fathers who had children with ADHD and the mothers and fathers who had children without ADHD diagnosis did not change in terms of income. At last, when parents' ADHD symptoms of children with and without ADHD were examined, the findings indicate that mothers and fathers with children diagnosed with ADHD demonstrated more adult ADHD symptoms than those with children without ADHD diagnosis. In terms of childhood ADHD symptoms, there was a significant difference between the fathers' ADHD symptoms and there was no significant difference between the mothers of the two groups. The findings were discussed within the framework of the literature; the limitations of this research and recommendations for relevant future studies were also mentioned.