Parental Stress and ADHD: Interventions That Work

Plain-language summary

Research suggests that mindfulness-based interventions may help reduce stress in parents of children with ADHD, although more research is needed to fully understand their effectiveness. It also highlights the complex relationship between parental stress, child behavior, and the quality of parent-child interactions. Evidence is still emerging and some aspects are mixed regarding the most effective interventions.

Key findings

• Mindfulness-based interventions show promise in reducing stress for parents of children with ADHD, by increasing self-awareness and coping skills.
• There is a strong link between parental stress and child irritability in families with ADHD, with negative parent-child relationships and avoidance of difficult experiences potentially making stress worse.
• Improving parents' understanding of ADHD and increasing their acceptance of treatment options for their children could help reduce parental stress.
• Sleep problems in children and adolescents with ADHD are often connected to higher levels of stress in their caregivers.
• Feasibility studies indicate that mindfulness interventions for parents of children with ADHD are practical to implement and show initial positive signs for reducing stress.

Studies cited (5)

1. Parental Stress and Child Irritability in ADHD: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Serial Mediation Model via Experiential Avoidance and Negative Parent-Child Relationship — Aral A, Gerdan G, Gürlük YO (2026, Journal of attention disorders, other)

   DOI: 10.1177/10870547251407731

2. Rolling out a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention for parents of children with ADHD: a feasibility study — Rice R, Ni Bhearra A, Kilbride K (2023, Irish journal of psychological medicine, other)

   DOI: 10.1017/ipm.2020.121

3. Sleep problems and parental stress among caregivers of children and adolescents enrolled in a digital mental health intervention — Huffman LG, Lawrence-Sidebottom D, Huberty J (2023, Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry, other)

   DOI: 10.3389/frcha.2023.1265095 PMCID: PMC11731620

4. Parental Stress and Parental Self-Efficacy as Mediators of the Association Between Children's ADHD and Marital Satisfaction — Ben-Naim S, Gill N, Laslo-Roth R (2019, Journal of attention disorders, other)

   DOI: 10.1177/1087054718784659

5. Parent training interventions for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children aged 5 to 18 years — Zwi M, Jones H, Thorgaard C (2011, The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, other)

   DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003018.pub3 PMCID: PMC6544776