Design and Participants

This is an exploratory, cross-sectional study with a qualitative approach (^{Sampieri et al., 2013}). Three mothers and two fathers, contacted personally (n = 3) and electronically (n = 2), participated in it. The inclusion criterion was being a parent of a teenager aged between 12 and 18 years old (^{Law No. 8.069, 1990}) and with an intelligence quotient (IQ) above average on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (^{Trentini et al., 2014}), whose application and assessment had already been carried out. Within the total number of participants, a mother and a father were a couple and the parents of two adolescents with HIA/G, while the other participants made up different families, all nuclear and with only one child. The number of participants is in line with the guidelines by ^{Braun et al. (2019}), which indicate the conduction of five or six interviews for a project with a relatively homogeneous sample and delimited research question.

The adolescents and their families that were contacted in person were approached by convenience at a public school in the city of Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, through referral by the teacher working in the Specialized Educational Assistance room. The school was suggested by the State Education Coordination (1st CRE) for having specialized services for students with HIA/G. The adolescents and family members contacted by electronic means were referred.

The mean age of the participating mothers was 43 years (SD = 10.4), and that of the fathers, 45 years (SD = 5.6). As for their educational and socioeconomic levels, three had completed high school, and two, higher education. One of the mothers was exclusively dedicated to her family, while the others had a job, and so did the two fathers. They were technicians or small-business owners with medium socioeconomic status, according to classification based on Hollingshead (^{Tudge & Frizzo, 2002}). The children, in their turn, were three males and two females aged between 12 and 16 years old (M = 13.3; SD = 1.4).

Instruments

Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire (adapted from the ^{Núcleo de Infância e Família (Childhood and Family Research Group), 2008}): Obtained information on the family’s sociodemographic data (age, education and sex, in addition to the family’s setting, and the parents’ marital, academic and professional statuses).

Semi-structured interview: Built by the authors from studies carried out by ^{Casarin and Ramos (2007}), ^{Fevorini and Lomônaco (2009}), ^{Teixeira et al. (2006}) and ^{Teodoro et al. (2009}) on family functioning, family climate, and parental practices. The interview consisted of 15 topics, adapted from the research works cited, which dealt with family routine, parental educational practices, family dynamics and relationships, in addition to addressing the parents’ concerns and prospects for their children. It lasted an average of 60 minutes and was conducted by the first and last authors, both with a degree in Psychology.

Ethical and Data Collection Procedures

The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos) (CAAE: 66512817.0.0000.5344), ensuring compliance with the Conselho Nacional de Saúde (^{National Health Council’s; Brasil. Ministério da Saúde, 2016}) regulatory guidelines and norms on research with human beings (^{Resolution No. 510, 2016}). Additionally, all participants were informed about the objectives and methodological procedures before consenting to the research.

Sample recruitment and data collection took place in different modalities. With regard to face-to-face collections (n = 3), after approval by the State Education Coordination (1st CRE) and the school board, parents of adolescents identified as having HIA/G were contacted to have the research explained, to sign the Free and Informed Consent Form (FICF) and to have the interview scheduled. The parents contacted personally answered the sociodemographic questionnaire and the interview on site, in a psychological clinic.

In the collections carried out by electronic means (n = 2), the parents of the adolescents referred were initially contacted via email or telephone with the purpose of being presented with the research and being invited to participate. Afterwards, the FICF and the sociodemographic questionnaire were sent by email to be completed by the parents and later returned by the same means. Then, the interviews were scheduled and answered through video calls. All interviews, including those held remotely, were conducted in a psychological clinic in order to preserve the confidentiality of the information. They were fully recorded in audio or video and fully transcribed, considering the verbal language of the participants.

Data Analysis Procedures

The information provided through the sociodemographic questionnaire was assessed by means of descriptive statistics for sample characterization purposes. To process the data from the interviews, deductive thematic analysis was used (^{Braun et al., 2019}; ^{Braun & Clarke, 2006}), which recommends the following steps: 1) transcription, data reading and re-reading; 2) material encoding; 3) theme identification; 4) theme refinement, and generation of the thematic map; 5) theme definition and naming; and 6) final analysis. The data derived from the deductive thematic analysis were assessed according to the following themes, defined a priori, considering the objectives of the study: a) family dynamics; b) parental educational practices; c) the adolescent’s emotional and behavioral problems; and, d) concerns and prospects for the adolescent’s future. The whole material was encoded by two judges with a degree in Psychology; there was an 87% agreement between them, considering the total number of agreements, divided by the total number of agreements added to the total number of disagreements, multiplied by 100, in order to obtain the percentage (^{Robson, 2002}).

It is noteworthy that the speeches were not identified in order to protect the participants’ identities. Therefore, mothers were designated by the letter M, and fathers, by the letter F, followed by a number corresponding to the order in which they were interviewed.

Family Dynamics

The theme referring to family dynamics sought to understand the family functioning of the adolescents with HIA/G from the perspective of their parents. In these families, many parents end up abstaining professionally and compromising other family life aspects in order to encourage and participate in the academic life of their children with HIA/G, as noticed in M2’s report:

Two years ago, when he (son) started to become a teenager, at 13 years old, some difficulties began to arise and then I chose to leave the company I worked for and be a mother, to be present in their routine. Today we’re starting to re-establish some routines at home. My routine is for them, actually! (M2).

Thus, this report reveals a mother’s need to make compromises in her professional life in order to prioritize her son’s demands. However, exclusive dedication to the children was not present in all of the investigated families: “Lately, it (the routine) has been a little hectic. I work shifts, I’m always on duty, do some overtime, depending on the needs of the house where I work, so I end up having little free time. I try to prioritize, for having little time, its quality” (F1). In this way, the described routine highlights the difficulties encountered by some families in having time to dedicate themselves to caring for their children due to the economic commitments to which they need to attend.

In addition to the problems related to the professional journey of the parents and their economic responsibilities with their families, family conflicts resulting from the care provided to the brother with HIA/G were reported by the couple who had another child, as observed in the following statement: “He did therapy for five years for not accepting his brother, agitation, lack of boundaries, and manipulation of the people around him” (M3).

Parental Educational Practices

This theme sought to address the parental practices used by the families interviewed. Regarding inductive practices, the parents who participated in this study mentioned: “I talk, I ask them how their day was, what they did and what they didn’t do. We try to instruct them on what is right and what is wrong!” (F1); “I warn them: be careful, this is not cool. You cannot do this because it can be harmful to others and to yourself!” (F2); “I’m used to talking and guiding them!” (M3). Thus, it is possible to verify convergences regarding the type of educational practice adopted by some families.

On the other hand, practices that are consistent with authoritarian parenting styles were also reported by some participants:

If what he did is considered serious, I take the computer, the cell phone from him: when he lies, disobeys or hits his brother (M3).

When he does something wrong, we fight for real! I lose my mind, to the point of hitting him on his shoulder with a belt! (F1).

I’m a person with a very harsh speech, very little cultured. And I’m really grumpy. Very harsh in the way I speak. So I pressure him a lot. Always very authoritative and very rough. Always speaking very severely. I don’t mince words much either, I’m a very grumpy person, even tough because of the life we’ve had and all! (M2).

Another topic that stood out during the interviews was the lack of guidance that some parents have on parenting in the context of HIA/G: “I didn’t believe that there were different behaviors due to high intellectual abilities. Everyone has a different difficulty and, sometimes, one’s difficulty is easy for the other” (M1); “I see that this high intellectual ability when she reaches adolescence, when she starts mixing feelings, which generates a lot of disorders that could have been prevented if we knew how to deal with them” (M2). In this sense, speeches that highlighted the lack of knowledge about the HIA/G and the resulting frustration were also evidenced:

I never read anything. The school has nothing on that. It’d be really nice to have something to educate yourself and understand how to deal with it (M1).

We tried to raise him like a normal kid! I think this was a mistake because we should have provided him with different activities! (M2).

The Adolescent’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems

The parents’ perception of the emotional and behavioral problems of their children with HIA/G was the focus of this topic. The parents addressed their perceptions of emotional and behavioral reactions that drew their attention: “In certain situations, he gets aggressive” (M5); “For whatever the problem is, he freezes. He has little ability to deal with situations, to deal with people, he tends to show feelings, usually, in a negative way. He expresses feelings like anger and rage” (F1).

Additionally, cases of isolation were also identified, such as a tendency to stay alone, lack of interest in socializing with other adolescents, in addition to difficulty in managing emotions, which increases the feeling of distress and the risk of suicide: “The more negative he feels, the more depressed he gets!” (M3); “When we fight, he locks himself in the house and I fear that he does these things: he writes things, cuts himself, but it’s not deep. He said it’s to ease his pain. He says he feels frustrated and feels so much pain that this is how he finds a relief!” (M1). However, this complaint was not unanimous, as some parents reported that their children spent their time on activities that were good for them and obtained good results from these experiences.

Concerns and Prospects Related to the Adolescents

The last theme analyzed corresponds to the concerns of parents and their prospects regarding the future of their children with HIA/G. In the present study, the parents showed greater concern with socialization difficulties and with the self-concept that their children have: “My only and exclusive concern is studies and behavior!” (M2); “I don’t want him to hurt anyone and I don’t want him to be hurt by anyone. I want him to be a good citizen for society. To be at peace. To solve these socialization things!” (M1). In this sense, some parents expressed their apprehension about their children being bullied by their schoolmates and coming to have extreme behaviors: “He found that case of the boy who killed his schoolmates strange. He said he wanted to do that too, because he was bullied. He says people don’t like him, nobody approaches him, that he’s not happy at home with his father and siblings. He feels rejected!” (M1).

Among the families interviewed, these concerns came along with a fear of involvement in illegal acts: “He’s always wanting to transgress something. I’m afraid he’ll end up trying some drug” (F1); “I don’t want him getting involved in illegal things.” (F2); “Use of drugs or alcohol. Getting involved in illegal things” (M3). In general, it was possible to notice that the parents’ concerns were related to the interactional difficulties presented by the children, as well as the distress of them putting themselves in risk situations. Moreover, there was a concern with the children’s ethical attitude and with the development of a collective sense as citizens.