en Psychology Psychology Original Research Original Research <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><b>&nbsp;&nbsp;</b><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp; Background: </span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">This study was designed to compare the parenting frequencies from the perspective of mothers in the three groups of children with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and without disease. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>Methods: </b>In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 241 families consisting of 81 families in the autism group, 81 families in the ADHD group, and 79 families in the normal group. The interview consisted of questions asking about the rates of reward and punishment used before and after the lockdown. We further questioned the relationship between parents in these families and also used the general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess mothers&#39; mental health. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>Results:</b> Analyzing the data revealed that the rate of reward has decreased significantly during the pandemic in all study groups (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">=0.002). The rate of punishment was also increased in most ADHD families but did not show any change in autism and normal families after the quarantine. We also reported that in the ASD group, most parents had experienced a decline in their relationship (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">=0.011). Mothers of ADHD children had a significantly lower mental health score (mean score of 13.15&plusmn;6.32) compared with mothers with ASD children (mean score of 13.94&plusmn;4.72) and mothers of neurotypical children (mean score of 14.05&plusmn;4.66) (</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt">P</span><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">=0.036).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal">&nbsp;&nbsp; Conclusion:</span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"> In conclusion, quarantine and semi-quarantine situations could cause changes among families, such as changes in parenting styles (including the rate of using physical punishment), relationships between parents, or even parents&#39; mental health.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:13pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif"><span style="font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-style:normal"></span></span></b></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <br> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span sans-serif="" style="font-family:Calibri,"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></span></span></b></span></span></span></span> Autism, Autism spectrum disorder, Parenting, COVID-19, ADHD 61 66 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-6737-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mojgan Khademi mkhademi@sbmu.ac.ir 200319475328460088227 200319475328460088227 No Imam Hossein Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Sara Shafaee Sarashafaee60@gmail.com 200319475328460088228 200319475328460088228 No Department of Psychiatry, Imam Hossein Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran, Iran Maryam Hosseinzadeh mariamghosseinzadeh@yahoo.com 200319475328460088229 200319475328460088229 Yes Department of Psychiatry, Imam Hossein Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran, Iran Rozita Davari Ashtiani rodavari@sbmu.ac.ir 200319475328460088230 200319475328460088230 No Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Imam Hossein Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Fariba Arabgol bahargol1388@yahoo.com 200319475328460088231 200319475328460088231 No Imam Hossein Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Katayoon Razjouyan razjouk@gmail.com 200319475328460088232 200319475328460088232 No Imam Hossein Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran