Research review: mechanisms of change and between‐family differences in parenting interventions for children with ADHD – an individual participant data meta‐analysis

Psyllou, C, Luman, M, van den Hoofdakker, BJ, Van der Oord, S, Aghebati, A, Boyer, B, Buitelaar, J, Chronis‐Tuscano, A, Daley, D ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3597-0408, Dekkers, TJ, DuPaul, GJ, Fabiano, GA, Ferrin, M, Franke, N, Gershy Tsahor, N, Harvey, E, Hennig, T, Herbert, S, Hoekstra, PJ, Kern, L, Mautone, JA, Mikami, AY, Normand, S, Pfiffner, LJ, Shimabukuro, S, Schramm, SA, Schweitzer, JB, Sibley, MH, Sonuga‐Barke, E, Thompson, C, Thompson, MJ, Tripp, G, Webster‐Stratton, C, Xie, Y, Leijten, P and Groenman, AP, 2025. Research review: mechanisms of change and between‐family differences in parenting interventions for children with ADHD – an individual participant data meta‐analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. ISSN 0021-9630

Text 2390890_Daley.pdf - Post-print Full-text access embargoed until 5 February 2026. Download (1MB)

Abstract

Background: Behavioural parenting interventions are evidence-based programmes for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, our understanding of the precise pathways leading to treatment effects remains limited. Understanding how such interventions work and for whom may help personalise interventions. Therefore, we examined whether intervention-related improvements in parenting are related to improvements in child behaviour and functional outcomes, and if these relations vary according to parents’ baseline levels of parenting.

Methods: We conducted moderated mediation analysis using individual participant data from 19 randomised controlled trials focusing on children with ADHD (n = 1,720). Immediate post-intervention measures of child ADHD and oppositional behaviour severity, reported by parents, and functional impairment reported by either the parent or probably masked clinicians, were treated as outcomes. We estimated pathways from intervention (versus control) to each child outcome, via immediate post-intervention parent reports of constructive parenting (e.g., praise), non-constructive parenting (e.g., physical punishment), and parent-child affection (e.g., warmth), while controlling for baseline values of both child outcomes and parenting levels. Baseline values of each parenting variable were used as moderators of the mediated pathways.

Results: Improvements in parenting behaviours and parent-child affection, immediately following the intervention were found to jointly explain improvements in children’s ADHD severity, oppositional behaviour, and functional impairment immediately following the intervention. Improvements in non-constructive parenting and parent-child affection uniquely accounted for intervention effects on functional impairment, especially for families with higher baseline levels of non-constructive parenting.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that improvements in both the behavioural and affective aspects of parenting are associated with simultaneous reductions in child ADHD severity, oppositional behaviour, and functional impairment. Supporting families with poorer parenting skills is of particular importance, as reductions in non-constructive parenting in these families are linked to stronger treatment effects on child functional impairment.

Item Type:	Journal article
Alternative Title:	Heterogeneity in pathways leading to parenting intervention effects for children with ADHD: an individual participant meta-analysis
Publication Title:	Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Creators:	Psyllou, C., Luman, M., van den Hoofdakker, B.J., Van der Oord, S., Aghebati, A., Boyer, B., Buitelaar, J., Chronis‐Tuscano, A., Daley, D., Dekkers, T.J., DuPaul, G.J., Fabiano, G.A., Ferrin, M., Franke, N., Gershy Tsahor, N., Harvey, E., Hennig, T., Herbert, S., Hoekstra, P.J., Kern, L., Mautone, J.A., Mikami, A.Y., Normand, S., Pfiffner, L.J., Shimabukuro, S., Schramm, S.A., Schweitzer, J.B., Sibley, M.H., Sonuga‐Barke, E., Thompson, C., Thompson, M.J., Tripp, G., Webster‐Stratton, C., Xie, Y., Leijten, P. and Groenman, A.P.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	5 February 2025
ISSN:	0021-9630
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1111/jcpp.14120 DOI 2390890 Other
Rights:	This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Psyllou, C., Luman, M., van den Hoofdakker, B. J., Van der Oord, S., Aghebati, A., Boyer, B., Buitelaar, J., Chronis‐Tuscano, A., Daley, D., Dekkers, T. J., DuPaul, G. J., Fabiano, G. A., Ferrin, M., Franke, N., Gershy Tsahor, N., Harvey, E., Hennig, T., Herbert, S., Hoekstra, P. J., Kern, L., …Groenman, A. P. (2025). Research review: mechanisms of change and between‐family differences in parenting interventions for children with ADHD – an individual participant data meta‐analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14120 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	03 Mar 2025 13:24
Last Modified:	03 Mar 2025 13:24
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53162

Actions (login required)

Edit View

Statistics

Views

Downloads