Abstract
Marital, parent-child, and family-level processes
were examined for 4 groups of 7- to 11-year-old boys and their
families: boys with no behavioral problems (control), boys with
behavioral problems consistent with attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), boys with behavioral problems consistent with
oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and boys with behavioral
problems consistent with ADHD and ODD. A discriminant analysis that
used marital and family factors alone was able to correctly classify
families into one of the 4 behavior problem groups with nearly
90% accuracy. The combination of parental commands and
parental coercion separated the control group from the 3 clinical
groups, but it was the combination of family cohesiveness and
responsive and consistent parenting that best distinguished the 3
clinical groups from one another.
