• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.175-181
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• 2008

Objectives: This study was conducted to compare the mothers' rearing attitude of ADHD children and that of children with depressive disorder. Methods: The participant consisted of 58 school-aged children diagnosed as ADHD, 14 children diagnosed as depressive disorder based on DSM-IV criteria. Normal control group consisted of 34 school-aged children who are free of any diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire, Parenting Style Questionnaire, Children's Depression Inventory, Marital Satisfaction Scale, Beck's Depression Inventory were administered to all children and their mothers. Results: The parents of ADHD children showed more aggressive/hostile, neglecting/indifferent and less warm/affectionate parenting styles to their children than those of the depression and control groups. The depressive group perceived their parents as more rejecting than the control groups. Conclusion: The externalizing symptoms of ADHD might provoke parental distress and make it difficult for the parents to show positive rearing attitude toward their children. The depressive children might be more sensitive and perceptive to the negative sign of their parents' rearing attitude.