Background: Previous studies have found that child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with more parental marital problems. However, the reasons for this association are unclear. The association might be due to genetic or environmental confounds that contribute to both marital problems and ADHD. Method: Data were drawn from the Australian Twin Registry, including 1,296 individual twins, their spouses, and offspring. We studied adult twins who were discordant for offspring ADHD. Using a discordant twin pairs design, we examined the extent to which genetic and environmental confounds, as well as measured parental and offspring characteristics, explain the ADHD–marital problems association. Results: Offspring ADHD predicted parental divorce and marital conflict. The associations were also robust when comparing differentially exposed identical twins to control for unmeasured genetic and environmental factors, when controlling for measured maternal and paternal psychopathology, when restricting the sample based on timing of parental divorce and ADHD onset, and when controlling for other forms of offspring psychopathology. Each of these controls rules out alternative explanations for the association. Conclusion: The results of the current study converge with those of prior research in suggesting that factors directly associated with offspring ADHD increase parental marital problems.

Thirty-seven (37) couples experiencing child behavior problems and concurrent marital conflict were randomly assigned to one of two variants of a group parent training program, either Standard Group Triple P (SGTP; n=19) or Enhanced Group Triple P (EGTP; n=18). SGTP incorporated 8 sessions (4 group sessions and 4 telephone consultations) and taught parents to identify the causes of child behaviour problems, promote children's development, manage misbehavior and plan ahead to prevent child behavior problems in “high risk” parenting situations. Families in the EGTP condition received SGTP plus 2 additional group sessions of parent support training that taught partners to support one another to parent as a team. These additional sessions included information and active skills training in communication skills; giving and receiving constructive feedback; holding casual conversations; supporting each other when problems occur; holding problem solving discussions; and improving relationship happiness. There were significant improvements from pre- to post-intervention for both conditions, on measures of disruptive child behavior, dysfunctional parenting style, conflict over parenting, relationship satisfaction and communication. No differences, however, were found between the two conditions, with both the EGTP and the SGTP programs resulting in similar outcomes. In the main, initial treatment effects for both mothers and fathers were maintained at 3-month follow-up.