Comparing Early Maladaptive Schemas of Mothers of Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Mothers of Normal Children

Objective: According to the significant role of mothers’ personality traits and their training styles on the genesis of children’s initial personality and destructive manners, present research compares early maladaptive schemas of mothers of children with Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, mothers of children with Oppositional defiant disorder, and mothers of normal children. Methods: The sample included ninety mothers divided into three groups: mothers of children with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, mothers of children with Oppositional defiant disorder, and mothers of normal children through purposeful sampling method from patients who went to a specialized center for treatment of children's behavioral disorders. Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV and Young-schema questionnaire (short-form) were used to collect data. Results: Results showed that the mothers of attention-deficit hyperactivity children gained the highest grade in the sub-fields of Emotional inhibition, Social isolation/Alienation, Defectiveness/Shame, Defectiveness/Shame, Unrelenting standards/hyper-criticalness, Entitlement/Grandiosity, and Insufficient self/control/self-discipline. Mothers of Oppositional defiant children gained the highest grade in the sub-fields of Mistrust/Abuse, Dependence/ Incompetence, Enmeshment/Undeveloped self. Also, the mothers of normal children gained the highest grade in the sub-field of self-sacrifice (P&le0.01). Conclusion: Therefore, putting into consideration the difference among the schemas of mothers of children with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, mothers of children with Oppositional defiant disorder, and mothers of normal children, the present study can be useful to evaluate and arrange therapeutic purposes of children with the aforementioned disorders.