Impaired Interparental Relationships in Families of Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Abstract. Research on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents has traditionally focused on the genetic and neurobiological aspects of the disorder, but the role of family relationships has been much less systematically examined. There is growing evidence that the quality of interparental relationships and a child’s ADHD symptoms are reciprocally related. Because the literature appears to be inconsistent, this meta-analysis aims to summarize previous research and assess whether there are robust differences in the quality of interparental relationships between parents of children with ADHD and parents of healthy children. This meta-analysis of 15 studies with 43 effect sizes revealed a small but significant difference ( d = .24), which indicates that parents of a child with ADHD report poorer relationship quality than parents of healthy children. This effect was moderated by the child’s age and did not depend on whether the child had a comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or conduct disorder (CD). The causality of this relationship has yet to be determined.

Two facets of being bothered by bodily sensations: anxiety sensitivity and alexithymia in psychosomatic patients

OBJECTIVE

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) and alexithymia have common characteristics with regard to somatic sensations. The purpose of the present study is to investigate if both constructs are distinct or overlapping in a sample of psychosomatic inpatients.

METHODS

We analyzed the alexithymia scores of extreme groups who are high and low in AS and the correlations between both constructs in 204 patients.

RESULTS

As predicted, groups with high and low AS differed significantly in their Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) scores. The correlations between the Anxiety Sensitivity Index and the TAS-20 were moderately high and were not significantly reduced if conceptually redundant items were removed from the TAS-20. A common factor analysis of the combined items of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index and the TAS-20 yielded no item overlap between the extracted factors of both measures.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that AS and alexithymia are related, but they are also distinct constructs. Therefore, it is important to assess AS and alexithymia separately.