ADHD is one of the most common childhood neurodevelopmental disorders and is associated with difficulties in daily activities for children and later, as adults. ADHD is thought to be a combination of genetic and psychosocial factors, that give the opportunity to influence impact of the disorder, should the relevant psychosocial factors be understood.
One factor influencing the impact is parenting skills, with easy going parenting strategies being associated with more difficulties for both parents and children. Some research has indicated possible links between use of devices with screens and difficulties with attention in preschool children, indicating that the recent rapid increase in use of screens may be contributing to the rise in ADHD symptoms in both children and adults.
This research investigated ADHD in children in an under researched, low and middle income country (North Macedonia), where recent research has indicated a higher level of daily screen use (2 or more hours) than in higher income countries. It looked at the relationship between parental mental health, parenting difficulties and screen media use on ADHD in families.
Parents were recruited as a part of the RISE project, researching the effect of the Parenting for Lifelong Health programme for parents of young children (PLH-YC), already running in North Macedonia, with 835 parents of children aged between 2-9 years participating.
Findings indicated a correlation between screen media use, ADHD symptoms and attentional problem behaviour in children, with stressed parents finding it harder to parent effectively and the resulting ineffective parenting strategies also being correlated with screen use and child ADHD-related symptoms.
Waller, F., Prandstetter, K., Jansen, E., Nikolova, G., Lachman, J. M., Hutchings, J., & Foran, H. M. (2023). Screen use: Its association with caregiver mental health, parenting, and children’s ADHD symptoms. Family Relations, 72(5), 2499–2515. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12869