LATENT CLASS STRUCTURE OF CAREGIVER STRAIN IN PARENTS OF CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH ADHD: THE ROLE OF RACE/ETHNICITY, GENDER, EDUCATION, AND INCOME

Open Access
- Author:
- Myers, Kyle Roy
- Area of Honors:
- Health Policy and Administration
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Rhonda BeLue, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Rhonda Be Lue, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Rhonda Be Lue, Thesis Honors Advisor
Dr. Elizabeth Farmer, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- ADHD
caregiver strain
latent class analysis - Abstract:
- Background: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder among school-age children. Children diagnosed with disabilities such as ADHD are often associated with disruptions in family functioning and increased levels of caregiver strain. Parenting of children with ADHD varies with gender and race/ethnicity; however, little work has investigated any differential impact that these and other factors can have on the amount of stress reported by parents of children with ADHD. Methods: Data from the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health was used to examine caregiver strain among parents of children diagnosed with ADHD. Latent Class Analysis was used to identify risk profiles related to caregiver strain among parents of children with ADHD. LCA is a statistical technique used to identify subgroups of individuals who share a similar pattern of responses to a set of observed items. Latent class analysis with covariates was then used to identify variations in parent associations to each of the latent classes based on race/Ethnicity, child gender, household income and education. Results: Among the 6,513 children with ADHD, 80.1% were white, 11.5% African-American, and 8.4% Hispanic and 72.1% were boys. The analysis revealed four unique classes of caregiver strain within the population; High Strain (21.5%), Moderate – Relating (43.7%), Moderate – Giving and Caring (18.3 %), and Low Strain (16.5%). White caregivers are more than twice as likely to belong to the Moderate and High Strain classes compared to the black caregivers. Caregivers of boys are more likely to be in one of the Moderate Strain classes, caregivers of girls are slightly more likely to belong to the High Strain class. Caregivers with an education less than high school are more likely to belong to the Low Strain class, and caregivers in households with income less than 300% FPL are more than three times as likely to belong to the High Strain class. Conclusions: These results identify a significant influence of child gender, race/ethnicity, household education and income on the type of strain reported by caregivers of children diagnosed with ADHD. The results can assist in tailoring interventions based on the proportions of parents in different caregiver strain classes.