Can your children drive you to drink? Stress and parenting in adults interacting with children with ADHD

Several publications in the psychological literature support the theory tha t children are a major source of stress for their parents. Not surprisingly , parents of children with behavior problem-particularly children with atte ntion deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-experience highly elevated leve ls of daily child-rearing stresses. Children with ADHD disregard parental r equests, commands, and rules; fight with siblings; disturb neighbors; and h ave frequent negative encounters with schoolteachers and principals. Althou gh many investigations have dealt with parenting stress caused by disruptiv e children, only a handful of studies have addressed the question of how pa rents cope with this stress. Those findings are presented, including a seri es of studies assessing parental distress and alcohol consumption among par ents of normal children and ADHD children after the parents interacted with either normal- or deviant-behaving children. Those studies strongly suppor t the assumption that the deviant child behaviors that represent major chro nic interpersonal stressors for parents of ADHD children are associated wit h increased parental alcohol consumption. Studies also have demonstrated th at parenting hassles may result in increased alcohol consumption in parents of "normal" children. Given these findings, the stress associated with par enting and its influence on parental alcohol consumption should occupy a sa lient position among the variables that are examined in the study of stress and alcohol problems.