Affective Temperaments in Parents of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Introduction: The objective of this study was to investigate affective temperaments of parents of children with ADHD and the relationship between ADHD and affective temperaments. Methods: The children diagnosed with ADHD were evaluated with a structured interview and the Turgay DSM-IV-Based Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavioral Disorders Screening and Rating Scale (T-DSM-IV-S) was filled by parents. Then parents were evaluated by a structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I), and those with no diagnosis of psychiatric disorder (in the past and at the time of the study) were included to the study. The Turkish version of the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Auto-questionnaire was used to evaluate affective temperaments of parents. A control group of parents who has no children with ADHD was applied the same evaluation protocol. Results: The study was conducted with 123 parents (66 mothers, 57 fathers) of 66 children with ADHD and 119 control parents (65mothers, 54 fathers) of 71 children without ADHD. Affective temperament scores of parents of children with ADHD were significantly higher than those of the control group. When the scores of mothers and fathers were compared separately, mothers had higher scores in all temperaments except hyperthymic temperament, and fathers had higher scores in all temperaments except anxious temperament in the ADHD group. Additionally, the T-DSM-IV-S attention deficit and hyperactivity/impulsivity scores of children were moderately correlated with most of the affective temperaments scores of their parents. Conclusion: There is a relationship between ADHD and affective temperaments. Further studies are needed to understand the etiology, strength, and nature of this relationship.