Familial environment/parenting
Adverse familial environments and parenting practices are commonly
observed in families of children with ADHD (Johnston &Mash 2001;Hinshaw 2002; Seipp & Johnston 2005).However,
the extent to which such parenting practices are casual factors
in ADHD, or rather responsive to negative child behaviour
remains unclear. Longitudinal evidence exploring the temporal
relationship between parenting and ADHD is beginning to
emerge but thus far has produced relatively mixed findings
(Lifford et al. 2008; Keown 2012). It is most likely that the
relationship between parenting and child behaviour is
bi-directional, and parents respond to genetically determined
negative child behaviour in a way that serves to maintain or
exacerbate the child’s behaviour (Johnston & Jassy 2007).
Encouraging parents to engage in supportive and proactive
parenting could therefore interrupt risk pathways (Sonuga-
Barke et al. 2005). Additionally, parenting may also be an
important factor contributing to other areas of functioning that
are commonly suboptimal in ADHD, including oppositional
behaviour and academic, social and cognitive functioning
(Hughes & Ensor 2009; Deault 2010).