Identification of the Effect of Prenatal Maternal Stressors on Children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

The present study aims atidentifyingthe role of prenatal maternal stressors in having attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In this ex post facto research, 64 children with ADHD and 61 normal children were identified by teachers in nursery and elementary schools in Parand, Iran using a diagnostic checklist for ADHD. In order to identify the prenatal maternal stressors, a checklist was developed by the researchers and administrated to two groups of mothers. Inthisstudy, the prenatal factors were considered as predictive variables, ADHD as criterionvariable and gender as control variable. Resultsshowedthatmother’s disease, argumentswith relativesandmother’s concern over financial problems during pregnancy were significantly higher in mothers of children with ADHD than the normal group. The results also showed that there was a significant difference between the average weight of ADHD and normal children at birth time. In other words the average weight of children with ADHD was significantly lower than normal children

Keywords

• prenatal maternal stressors
• attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder