Relationship of family environment and parental psychiatric diagnosis to impairment in ADHD.

Objective: Family environmental factors as well as parental attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) status have shown associations with variability in ADHD. The purpose of the present study was to examine the links among family environment, parental psychiatric diagnosis, and child impairment within a sample of ADHD-affected sibling pairs (ASPs) ages 5 to 18 years.

Method: Parents in 220 ASP families completed a measure of family functioning, the Family Environment Scale.