Children’s Sensitivity to Reward Moderates the Association of Negative and Positive Parenting Behaviors in Child ADHD Symptoms
Atypical reward processing, including abnormal sensitivity to reward and punishment, has long been implicated in the etiology of ADHD. However, little is known about how these facets of behavior interact with positive (e.g., warmth, praise) and negative (e.g., hostility, harsh discipline) parenting behavior in the early expression of ADHD symptoms in young children. Understanding the interplay between children’s reward processing and parenting may be crucial for identifying specific treatment targets in psychosocial interventions for ADHD, especially given that not all children benefit from contingency-based treatments (e.g., parent management training). The study consisted of a community sample of kindergarten children (N = 184, 55% male) and their parents, who completed questionnaires about their parenting practices, their child’s behaviors and participated in an observed parent-child play task in the laboratory. Results showed that children’s sensitivity to reward and punishment were positively associated with child ADHD symptoms. Children’s sensitivity to reward significantly moderated the association of negative and positive parent behaviors on child ADHD symptoms. Children with high sensitivity to reward were less sensitive to variations in parental behavior, whereas children with low sensitivity to reward exhibited fewer ADHD symptoms under conditions of high global (i.e., self-reported) positive parenting, low global negative parenting and low observed negativity. Children’s sensitivity to punishment did not moderate the associations between positive and negative parenting behaviors and child ADHD symptoms. Results provide evidence that atypical reward processing may be an important of marker of risk for ADHD, but also highlights how children’s responses to positive and negative parenting behavior may vary by children’s reward processing. Clinical and treatment implications are discussed.