Effects of medication, behavioral, and combined treatments on parents' andchildren's attributions for the behavior of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Seventy-four mothers and 41 fathers and their 6 to 13 year old sons with at tention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) watched videos of child ADHD symptoms, compliance, and noncompliance. Participants were told either that the child was receiving medication, behavioral treatment, a combination of the two, or was not receiving treatment and were asked to rate the cause o f the behavior. Parents attributed less control but greater stability to po sitive child behaviors when the child was receiving medication. However, fo r negative behaviors, medication increased attributions of control but dimi nished stability. With behavior management, compliance was seen as more ext ernal and stable and noncompliance as more controllable but less stable. Fo r all treatments, boys reported increased control over ADHD symptoms and no ncompliance. The implications of these treatment-related attributions for p arenting and children's self-perceptions are discussed.