Integrating Item Accuracy and Reaction Time to Improve the Measurement of Inhibitory Control Abilities in Early Childhood

Efforts to improve children’s executive function are often hampered by the lack of measures that are optimized for use during the transition from preschool to elementary school. Whereas preschool-based measures often emphasize response accuracy, elementary school-based measures emphasize reaction time (RT)—especially for measures inhibitory control (IC) tasks that typically have a speeded component. The primary objective of this study was to test in a preschool-aged sample whether the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT data resulted in improved scoring for three IC tasks relative to scores derived from accuracy data alone. Generally, the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT data resulted in modest improvements in the measurement precision of IC abilities. Moreover, the joint use of item-level accuracy and RT helped eliminate floor and ceiling effects that occurred when accuracy data were considered alone. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of scoring IC tasks in ways that are maximally informative for program evaluation and longitudinal modeling

Developmental Delays in Executive Function from 3 to 5 Years of Age Predict Kindergarten Academic Readiness

Substantial evidence has established that individual differences in executive function (EF) in early childhood are uniquely predictive of children’s academic readiness at school entry. The current study tested whether growth trajectories of EF across the early childhood period could be used to identify a subset of children who were at pronounced risk for academic impairment in kindergarten. Using data that were collected at the age 3, 4, and 5 home assessments in the Family Life Project (N = 1,120), growth mixture models were used to identify 9% of children who exhibited impaired EF performance (i.e., persistently low levels of EF that did not show expected improvements across time). Compared to children who exhibited typical trajectories of EF, the delayed group exhibited substantial impairments in multiple indicators of academic readiness in kindergarten (Cohen’s ds = 0.9–2.7; odds ratios = 9.8–23.8). Although reduced in magnitude following control for a range of socioeconomic and cognitive (general intelligence screener, receptive vocabulary) covariates, moderate-sized group differences remained (Cohen’s ds = 0.2–2.4; odds ratios = 3.9–5.4). Results are discussed with respect to the use of repeated measures of EF as a method of early identification, as well as the resulting translational implications of doing so

Measuring executive function in early childhood: A case for formative measurement.

This study tested whether individual executive function (EF) tasks were better characterized as formative (causal) or reflective (effect) indicators of the latent construct of EF. EF data that were collected as part of the Family Life Project (FLP), a prospective longitudinal study of families who were recruited at the birth of a new child (N = 1292), when children were 3, 4, and 5 years old. Vanishing tetrad tests were used to test the relative fit of models in which EF tasks were used as either formative or reflective indicators of the latent construct of EF in the prediction of intellectual ability (at age 3), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms (at ages 3–5 years), and academic achievement (at kindergarten). Results consistently indicated that EF tasks were better represented as formative indicators of the latent construct of EF. Next, individual tasks were combined to form an overall measure of EF ability in ways generally consistent with formative (i.e., creating a composite mean score) and reflective (i.e., creating an EF factor score) measurement. The test-retest reliability and developmental trajectories of EF differed substantially, depending on which overall measure of EF ability was used. In general, the across-time stability of EF was markedly higher, perhaps implausibly high, when represented as a factor score versus composite score. Results are discussed with respect to the ways in which the statistical representation of EF tasks can exert a large impact on inferences regarding the developmental causes, course, and consequences of EF. More generally, these results exemplify how some psychological constructs may not conform to conventional measurement wisdom

Replication and External Validation of a Bi-Factor Parameterization of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptomatology

This study evaluated the fit and criterion validity of a recently proposed bi-factor structure for ADHD symptoms. Participants included N=1093 children, drawn from an ongoing prospective longitudinal study, whose ADHD symptoms were rated by parents and teachers when children were in 1st grade. The criterion validity of the bi-factor model was established using a range of school-based outcomes that included treatment utilization, teacher perceptions of the need for treatment, academic functioning, and peer and teacher relationship quality. Results indicated that a bi-factor model parameterization provided an equally good fit to parent, teacher, and combined reports of ADHD symptoms as did traditional 1-, 2-, and 3-factor. However, in contrast to traditional models, the bi-factor parameterization acknowledged both the unity and diversity of ADHD symptoms. The general ADHD latent factor explained the vast majority of the observed variation in every symptom. Whereas the general ADHD latent factor was significantly associated with all 15 outcomes, the specific Inattentive factor explained unique variation in 9 (primarily the academically-oriented) outcomes and the specific Hyperactive-Impulsive factor explained unique variation in 2 outcomes. The general ADHD factor was more strongly correlated with each of the observed ADHD symptom scores (total, inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive) than was either specific factor. Results are discussed with respect to how changes in the conceptualization of the factor structure correspond to recent changes to the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, as well as whether/how individual differences in inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity might be used to differentiate children who are diagnosed with ADHD

The Benefits of Adding a Brief Measure of Simple Reaction Time to The Assessment of Executive Function Skills in Early Childhood

Early childhood represents a period of rapid cognitive developmental change in executive function (EF) skills along with a variety of related cognitive processes, including processing speed. This leads to interpretational challenges in that children’s performance on EF tasks reflects more than EF skills per se. We tested whether the inclusion of a brief measure of simple reaction time (SRT) during EF assessments could help to partially address this challenge. Data were drawn from a cross-sectional convenience sample of 830 preschool-aged children. Individual differences in SRT were significantly associated with performance on all tasks (R2s = .09–.26); slower performance on the SRT task was associated with poorer performance on each EF task. Age-related differences in individual EF tasks were reduced by approximately one half after accounting for age-related differences in SRT, and EF task scores were less coherent (i.e., less strongly intercorrelated with each other) after the removal of SRT. Age-related differences in EF were smaller (Cohen ds = 1.36 vs. 0.78), and poverty-related differences in EF were larger (Cohen ds = 0.30 vs. 0.46) after accounting for SRT-related variation. Finally, consistent with previous studies, SRT-related differences in fluid reasoning were mediated by EF skills. Results are discussed with respect to using a brief measure of SRT to partially address the problem of measurement impurity at the level of individual EF tasks

Salivary Cortisol Mediates Effects of Poverty and Parenting on Executive Functions in Early Childhood

In a predominantly low-income population-based longitudinal sample of 1,292 children followed from birth, higher level of salivary cortisol assessed at ages 7, 15, and 24 months was uniquely associated with lower executive function ability and to a lesser extent IQ at age 3 years. Measures of positive and negative aspects of parenting and household risk were also uniquely related to both executive functions and IQ. The effect of positive parenting on executive functions was partially mediated through cortisol. Typical or resting level of cortisol was increased in African American relative to White participants. In combination with positive and negative parenting and household risk, cortisol mediated effects of African American ethnicity, income-to-need, and maternal education on child cognitive ability.

The role of household chaos in understanding relations between early poverty and children’s academic achievement

The following prospective longitudinal study used an epidemiological sample (N = 1,236) to consider the potential mediating role of early cumulative household chaos (6–58 months) on associations between early family income poverty (6 months) and children's academic achievement in kindergarten. Two dimensions of household chaos, disorganization and instability, were examined as mediators. Results revealed that, in the presence of household disorganization (but not instability) and relevant covariates, income poverty was no longer directly related to academic achievement. Income poverty was, however, positively related to household disorganization, which was, in turn, associated with lower academic achievement. Study results are consistent with previous research indicating that household chaos conveys some of the adverse longitudinal effects of income poverty on children's outcomes and extend previous findings specifically to academic achievement in early childhood

Contributions of modern measurement theory to measuring executive function in early childhood: An empirical demonstration

This study demonstrates the merits of evaluating a newly developed battery of executive function tasks, designed for use in early childhood, from the perspective of item response theory (IRT). The battery was included in the 48-month assessment of the Family Life Project, a prospective longitudinal study of 1292 children oversampled from low-income and African American families. IRT models were applied to a select set of tasks to demonstrate empirically (a) a principled method for item evaluation, including the utility of item characteristic curves; (b) how to explicitly test whether the measurement properties of executive function tasks are invariant across mutually exclusive subgroups of youths; (c) how the precision of measurement of a given task can vary according to underlying child ability; and (d) the utility of using IRT-based versus percentage correct scores. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of developing psychometrically sound and scalable instrument

Agree or agree to disagree? Assessing the convergence between parents and observers on infant temperament

The assessment of infant temperament has been typically accomplished with parent questionnaires. When compared with temperament behaviours observed in the laboratory, parents and observers generally do not agree, leading some researchers to question the validity of parent report. This paper reports on a representative sample of infants whose families resided in non-metropolitan counties and whose temperament was measured in three ways: (1) standard parent report (Infant Behavior Questionnaire); (2) observer ratings across two lengthy home visits; and (3) observer coding of second-by-second reactions to specific emotion-eliciting tasks. In order to account for both trait and method variance, structural equation modelling was applied to a sample of 955 infants (M age = 7.3 months) using variables from the three methods that reflected the dimensions of positivity and negativity. Although models based solely on method factors and trait factors fit the data well, results indicated that a model that included method and trait factors provided the best fit. Results also indicated that parents and observers (either across the home visit or to specific tasks) converge, to a degree, on ratings of the positivity dimension but diverge on the negativity dimension

Callous-Unemotional Traits Among Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Associations with Parenting

This study examined the extent to which positive and negative parenting relates to conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits among 172 adolescents (72 % males; Mage = 16.91 years, SD = .67) with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and whether CU traits moderate the link between parenting and CP. Mothers reported on their adolescents’ CP, CU traits, and their own parenting practices. Maternal behaviors were observed during a problem-solving communication task. Parents who engaged in more positive parenting (self-reported and observed) reported their adolescents as having lower levels of CU traits. No effect was found for negative parenting. Moderation analyses indicated that lower levels of positive maternal behavior was only associated with higher CP in the presence of higher levels of CU traits. Negative parenting was positively related to CP regardless of CU traits. Positive parenting, irrespective of measurement approach, uniquely relates to adolescents’ CU traits while both positive and negative parenting relate to CP