Are students with ADHD more stressful to teach? Patterns of teacher stress in an elementary school sample

The inattentive and/or hyperactive-impulsive behaviors that typify attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been associated with increased stress in parents of children who are so diagnosed and are known to adversely affect the quality of parent-child interactions. Far less is known, however, about the effects of ADHD on interactions between students with the disorder and their teachers and on levels of teacher stress. Using the Index of Teaching Stress, an instrument assessing a teacher's subjective level of stress and frustration in response to teaching and interacting with a particular student,we found that general education elementary school teachers rated students with ADHD as significantly more stressful to teach than their classmates without ADHD. However, we found that the stress reported by teachers was highly individualized. Students with ADHD who evidenced oppositional/aggressive behavior or severe social impairment were rated as significantly more stressful to teach than students with ADHD who did not evidence these associated difficulties.