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While several qualitative studies have documented greater social isolation and network criticism among mothers of ADHD children, little is known about the actual utilization and influence of social support. This is the first study to use two cross-nationally representative samples of American and Canadian mothers to further explore these issues.
Although I was suspicious of the design of previous research, I was initially surprised by the lack of significant differences between both Canadian and American mothers of ADHD children and mothers of non-ADHD children in terms of well-being and social support. I ran and reran the models, expecting to find that mothers of ADHD children are in some way worse off than mothers of non-ADHD children. It wasn’t until the very end of my research that it became undeniably clear that the spotlight on maternal pathology and dysfunction is unwarranted and misplaced. In some sense, the focus on mothers unintentionally frees other sources of scrutiny for the rise in diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.
This book provides a much needed counterperspective on the competence and individual strength of mothers of ADHD children. It appears that these women do not ascribe to the stereotypes of being overly stressed, burdened, and socially isolated despite popular beliefs otherwise. Rather than falling prey to these typecasts, most mothers of ADHD children are managing to successfully cope with their child’s disorder in the face of public and professional stigma and discrimination. Not to underestimate the personal difficulties encountered by these mothers, findings of this research suggest that parenting an ADHD child may not be as “bad” as it has been popularly portrayed. The contributions of this study are especially important in directing future research efforts toward understanding more about the potential of mothers to rebound from adversity and become stronger and more resourceful.