Assessing effortful control in typical and atypical development: Are questionnaires and neuropsychological measures interchangeable? A latent-variable analysis

Abstract

Objective: Effortful control (EC), the self-regulation component of temperament, is traditionally measured using questionnaires. Through the years, several neuropsychological measures originating from the cognitive psychology and the executive function (EF) literature have been introduced in the domain of temperament research to tap EC. Although this is not particularly surprising, given the conceptual overlap between EC and EF, it remains unclear whether EC questionnaires and neuropsychological EF tasks can really be used interchangeably when measuring EC. The current study addressed two important aspects in evaluating the interchangeability of both types of measures, that is: (a) do they measure the same construct?, and (b) do they give the same results when comparing clinical populations? Method: Three EC questionnaires, two inhibitory control tasks, and two attentional control tasks were administered in 148 typically developing children, 30 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and 31 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). All children were between 10 and 15 years of age and had a full scale IQ of 80 or higher.Results: Confirmatory Factor Analyses revealed that the questionnaires and EF tasks do not capture the same underlying latent variable(s). Groups could not be differentiated from each other based on their performance on EF tasks, whereas significant group differences were found for all EC-reports. Conclusions:Overall, our findings show more differences than commonalities between the EC questionnaires and EF tasks and, consequently, suggest that both types of measures should not be used interchangeably.

Supporting the Spectrum Hypothesis: Self-Reported Temperament in Children and Adolescents with High Functioning Autism

“…Previous studies revealed mixed results in Effortful Control, with some studies showing reduced parent-reported levels (De Pauw et al, 2011; Konstantareas & Stewart, 2006; Samyn et al, 2015), and others reporting no differences, or differences only on specific subscales, on self-reports of Effortful Control (Samyn et al, 2015; Schwartz et al, 2009). Interestingly, a previous study found discrepancies between self- and parent-reports of attention problems in children with HFA (Mazefsky et al, 2011).…”

“…Children were less likely to report attention problems than their parents, which was interpreted as children and adolescents with HFA being unaware of their attention problems, or its impact on their daily functioning. Samyn and colleagues (2015) also proposed that the inconsistency between parent- and self-report may stem from reduced psychometric reliability. However, in the current study children with HFA exhibited comparable, high levels of reliability in their reports of Effortful Control.…”

“…However, parents of children with HFA rated them as exhibiting lower Effortful Control in several studies (De Pauw et al, 2011; Myles et al, 2007). There may be meaningful differences between parent- and self-reports of Effortful Control for individuals with HFA, as parents report greater differences than children, even when tested in the same sample (Samyn, Roeyers, Bijttebier, Rosseel, & Wiersema, 2015). No study to our knowledge has tested whether differences in the variances of self-reports exist in children with autism.…”

Heterogeneity of executive functions among comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders

“…To date, no formal subgroup analyses have been conducted in ASD based on EF. However, there is a multitude of conflicting evidence on EF dysfunction in ASD, pointing to heterogeneity in EF skills in this clinical population1516. One consistent finding is more severe EF impairment in ASD than ADHD8131718.…”

“…While the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-523) considers ASD and ADHD to be distinct disorders, there is inadequate construct validity for these disorders based on EF81716. The few studies that have examined specific EF profiles in ASD and ADHD employed variable-centered approaches817 (e.g., group averages), ignoring the heterogeneity within diagnostic categories.…”