Divorce more likely when couples have kids with ADHD
Wednesday 22nd October, 2008
Parents with a child that has ADHD are twice as likely to have their marriage end in divorce than couples with children that do not have the condition, according to an American psychology professor.
Dr. William Pelham, Jr of Buffalo University is internationally renowned for his treatment and research into ADHD and conducted research into this issue with colleague Dr Brian T. Wymbs.
Their results also found that certain family characteristics contributed to the risk of divorce. Individually, those factors included the age at which the child is diagnosed with ADHD, the race and ethnicity of the parents, parental education level, paternal antisocial behaviour (such as law-breaking) and severity of other disorders such as Conduct Disorder and Oppositional-Defiant Disorder.
Dr. Pelham’s study is the first of its kind to link parent and child factors as a way of predicting divorce rate and timescale. The study also highlighted how the risk of divorce increased with the severity of the disorder.
The research suggests that having a child with ADHD isn’t the only reason for divorce but interaction with a child that has the disorder places greater stress on a marriage particularly if the couple view each other as being less supportive.
The study took data that involved over 280 adolescents and young adults with the disorder from childhood and tested their parents using interviews, questionnaires and diagnostics to determine the start point of the divorce.
The largest factor that increased the risk of divorce was found to be the father’s antisocial behaviour, second to that was the mother’s level of education against the father’s.
Both researchers suggest that healthcare professionals who treat children with ADHD should observe if couples are having relationship problems and try to intervene. Divorce can prove to be extremely traumatic to a child however if the marital problems are causing the child to have difficulties in their behaviour or learning then divorce could be the best option for everyone in the family.
ADHD and relationship problems can be helped with alternative medicine and complementary therapy.
To find out more about ADHD and therapies that can help click here
If you’re having relationship problems, click here to see what therapies can help
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October 25th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Thank you for highlighting this critical point of this study:
“The largest factor that increased the risk of divorce was found to be the father’s antisocial behaviour, second to that was the mother’s level of education against the father’s.”
Overall, I’ve found the coverage of this study extremely, regrettably stigmatizing to children with ADHD.
No one will argue that having a child with ADHD is always easy. But what the reportage has utterly failed to emphasize is that ADHD is 76 percent heritable. That is, these children with ADHD received their genes from one or both parents. And no study can offer any useful conclusions on this topic unless it also factors in one or both parent’s ADHD.
As children with untreated ADHD mature into adults, they typically max out their capacity to cope at the various rites of passage — entering college, graduating college, having a serious romantic relationship, entering the workforce, getting married, getting a mortgage, having a baby. Some max out earlier than others. But many adults with untreated ADHD have difficulty adjusting to the arrival of children, ADHD or not. Too often, this is seen as just a “tough adjustment” and the underlying ADHD is missed. But there are many other obfuscations. The smoke and mirrors around this issue could fill an entire funhouse.
For many years, I’ve viewed it a type of injustice to treat children with ADHD medically without screening both parents for the condition. But many physicians are afraid of the adults’ reaction, I guess, and they figure it’s better that the child get some help than none.
Gina Pera, author
Is It You, Me, or Adult A.D.D.? Stopping the Roller Coaster When Someone You Love Has Attention Deficit Disorder (2008, 1201 Alarm Press)
October 25th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Thank you for your comment, Gina.