The Challenging Role of Theory of Mind in the Mothers of Children with Attention Deficit - Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

Background: While theory of mind (ToM) deficit is frequently reported in children and adult with ADHD, there is no study investigating characteristics of ToM in their parents. This study aimed to investigate understanding intentionality as an important component of ToM ability in ADHD mothers and typically developing children’s mothers.   Methods: Through available sampling, (50 mothers), 23 ADHD’s mothers were compared to 27 age and IQ matched typically developing children’s mothers. All participants were assessed using the Animated Triangle Task for ToM performance and the Conners’ Continuous Performance Test (CPT) to evaluate neurocognitive performance. The Mann–Whitney and t-test were used as data analysis methods to examine differences between two groups. Results: poor performance of ADHD mothers was at ToM task. (p < 0.001) However, no significant difference was found between the two groups of mothers in CPT-II performance (p > 0.001). Performance of ToM was not significantly associated with CPT-II. Conclusions: ADHD mothers may have deficits in understanding intentionality. The findings suggest that researchers pay more attention to recognizing social cognition and social communication characteristics of the parents of ADHD children. It seems that using specific training programs for the parents of ADHD children to achieve ToM capacities can contribute to the pro motion of their children’s social development.