Parenting stress in families of attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) children

Kamarulzaman Kamaruddin

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine the level of stress among the parents of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) children. The data were obtained from a survey using the Perceived Stress Scale that involves 120 parents. The findings revealed that only 25 (20.8%) parents experienced stress at low level (Score = < below 13) and they were in the state of normal. Whilst 26 (21.7%) of the parents were suffering moderate level of stress (Score = 14 - 19) which is considered as mild. However, the findings indicated that 69 (57.5%) of them experienced high level of stress (Score = > 20) which is classified as severe. The findings indicated that mothers of ADHD children was associated with higher stress and were significantly experienced more stress than fathers. In terms of ethnicity, the findings showed that Chinese parents are experiencing more stress than the Malay and Indian parents. Accordingly, parents of high parental income were reported experiencing greater stress than parents of middle and low parental income. Similarly to the findings on parents of different religious groups whereby all groups except the Muslim parents are at high level of stress and as if there is no significant difference between the Christians, Buddhists and Hindus with regard to parenting stress.

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