(PS10-C51) Predictors of Parental Stress During COVID: Sleep, Eating, and ADHD

The current COVID-19 pandemic has heightened concerns around child health behaviors. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the typical routines of children have been disrupted, causing increased distress. Routines such as health behaviors including sleep hygiene, eating habits, toothbrushing, and screen time may play a role in parental stress. The addition of existing clinical diagnoses in children may also influence stress among families. In particular, parents of children with ADHD report more negative relationships and higher levels of stress (Li & Landsford, 2018; Theule et al., 2013). Generally, children with ADHD tend to demonstrate worse health behaviors than their peers, which may further contribute to parental stress especially in light of the recent pandemic (Holton & Nigg, 2020). The present study examines the unique influence of child ADHD symptoms, sleep hygiene, and food fussiness in relation to parental stress.

Data from 194 parents was collected using Amazon Mechanical Turk and a snowballing procedure. Their children were on average 9 years old, and 18% were diagnosed with ADHD. Participants completed a survey battery which included measures of their child’s ADHD symptomology (Vanderbilt), sleep habits (Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire), and eating behaviors (Food Fussiness subscale of the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire). Parents also reported their own stress level regarding parenting (Parental Stress Scale).  

Child ADHD symptomology (r = .77, p </em>< .01), sleep hygiene (r = -.59, p < .01), and food fussiness (r = .23 p < .01), all independently predicted parental stress, so all three were combined into a single standard multiple regression model. This combined model explained 53.7% of the variance in parental stress found in this sample, and all three predictors remained significant. As predicted, child ADHD symptomology (β = .56, p < .01) and food fussiness (β = .16, p < .01) were both positive predictors of parental stress, while healthy sleep habits (β = -.19, p = .02) were a negative predictor.

Consistent with previous literature, the current study found that there were multiple predictors of parental stress, including a child’s ADHD symptomology, poor sleep habits, and food fussiness. ADHD symptomology was the strongest predictor, followed by sleep habits, and then food habits, indicating that it impacts parental stress the most. However, both sleep habits and pickiness explained variance not otherwise explained by ADHD, indicating that they are independently predictive. This implies that while ADHD is often connected to both of these health behaviors, it is a separate predictor of parental stress. Thus, interventions based solely on ADHD may not be as effective as multipronged interventions for reducing parental stress and improving familial relationships.