Raising children: a descriptive analysis of single parents’ parenting styles of children living with Attention Deficit / Hyperactive Disorder

Abstract

This study has sought to explore the perceptions of single parents raising children living with Attention Deficit / Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). The researcher specifically investigated the participants’ perceptions of their parenting styles raising a child living with ADHD. With the rise in the prevalence of ADHD and single parented homes in the South African context, it was considered important to explore the dynamics between single parents and children living with ADHD, and particularly the interplay of parenting styles. Additionally, with the large gap in research on the single parenting phenomenon in the South African context, this research aimed to bridge this gap. The single parent phenomenon, raising a child living with ADHD and parenting methods thereof was highlighted in this study. The theoretical framework encompassed a discussion of Diana Baumrind’s parenting dimensions, in order to understand the highlighted parenting methods. Furthermore, Intersectionality theory structured this research to provide a critical view of the applicability of Diana Baumrind’s parenting theory within the South African context. The study exhibited the parenting dimensions employed by the participants were not adequately informed of Diana Baumrind’s parenting theory. Subsequently, the study introduced an overview of a neoteric theoretical parent theory (Pan African Millennial parenting model) to better illustrate the parenting methods of single parents raising children living with ADHD within the South African context. This study was exploratory and qualitative, focusing on the participants’ subjective experiences. The findings of the research suggested that all the participants had comparable although not homogenous experiences. Many participants found that their role as a single parent became more complex when raising a child living with ADHD; and sometimes they felt overwhelmed and lonely. Despite the aforementioned, conversely and uniquely, most of the participants indicated that being a single parent raising a child living with ADHD was simpler than traditional parenting. Furthermore, all the participants reported to adapt their parenting style to the needs of their child, regardless of whether they would have been in a nuclear family system, or raising a typically developing child.