The Role of Mothers’ Psychiatric Symptoms, Practices of Emotion Socialization and Emotion Regulation among Children Diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder

This study investigates the mediating role of mothers' emotion socialization practices and emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between maternal attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptom levels and their children's ADHD symptom levels. The study included 90 children (M = 9.71 years, SD = 1.33) diagnosed with ADHD and their mothers. Mothers completed Adult Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder Self-Report Scale, Borderline Personality Inventory, DSM-IV Based Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale, Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Form. Children filled out Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children. The findings revealed that mothers' punitive and distress reactions mediated the relationship between mothers' and their children's ADHD symptom levels. Furthermore, all unsupportive emotion socialization strategies mediated the relationship between mothers' BPD symptoms and their children's ADHD symptoms. These results indicate that unsupportive maternal responses may contribute to the severity of children's ADHD symptoms.