A FAMILY PERSPECTIVE OF CHILDRENS HYPERAC TIVE BEHAVIOR - CONTRIBUTION OF MATERNAL CARETAKING, MARITAL QUALITY AND FAMILY FUNCTIONING

Taking a family perspective to analyze hyperactive behavior of childre n implies to look not only on deficits in cognitive information proces sing, but to study relationships between hyperactive behavior and mate rnal caretaking, marital quality and family functioning. To get inform ation on these variables, we asked mothers of 59 boys with a mean age of 9.3 years, Different degrees of hyperactive behavior were attained, because the subject group was composed of boys with normal behavior a nd of boys recommended for psychological treatment. Hyperactive behavi or is coupled with the preferred use of punishment in childrearing by controlling age and socioeconomic status. Mothers report more uncertai nly and self-criticism, less patience and lack of self-confidence in c hild education. In multiple regression analyses, aspects of marital qu ality and family functioning predict no additional variance, despite s ome single correlations. Implications of these results for treatment w ere discussed.