Exploring the Impacts of Environmental Factors on Adolescents’ Daily Participation: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Abstract

Adolescents with neurodevelopmental difficulties struggle to perform daily activities, reflecting the significant impact of executive functions on their participation. This research examines an integrated conceptual model wherein supportive environmental factors in the community, school and home settings explain the children’s participation (involvement and frequency) with their daily activities performance as a mediator. Parents of 81 10- to 14-year-old adolescents with and without executive function deficit profiles completed the Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth and the Child Evaluation Checklist. A secondary analysis was conducted to examine the structural equation model using AMOS software. The results demonstrated support for the hypothesised model. Supportive environmental demands in school predicted 32% of home participation, and the adolescents’ daily performance reflected that executive functions mediated the relationship between them. Together, these findings highlight the school environment as the primary contributor that affects the children’s functioning according to their parents’ reports and as a predictor of high participation at home in terms of frequency and involvement. This study has implications for multidisciplinary practitioners working with adolescents in general, and in the school setting specifically, to understand meaningful effects of executive functions on adolescents’ daily functioning and to provide accurate assistance and intervention.

Participation and Inclusion of Children and Youth with Disabilities in Local Communities

“…Although further refinement may be necessary (for instance, to better capture the perception of barriers to participation), the four scales appeared to provide a solid method of measuring perceived participation among children and youth in the study settings. Previous attempts to measure participation have combined the frequency and level of involvement in activities [14,16,17], or applied comparison with peers [28] or satisfaction measures [29], often targeting specific impairments. Therefore, study's combination of different approaches in measuring perceived participation adds to the literature on participation measures.…”

“…Recent literature on participation among children and youth have highlighted the impact of cultural differences [14], the importance of social support by caregivers [15], the need for obtaining childrens' perspectives on participation [16], and the crucial role of the school environment [17]. These recent examples point in different ways to the interrelationship between the environment and the individual as a key to participation.…”

Coeficiente intelectual en población escolar con dislexia: un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales

“…Se analizó la covarianza entre las variables latentes: índices de CV, RP, MT, VP y CIT. El MEE, que permite validar constructos hipotéticos entre variables latentes a partir de variables observables, es una clase de estructuras multivariantes (Fogel et al, 2021). Estos modelos determinan la relación de dependencia o independencia mediante la integración de ecuaciones lineales, combinan el análisis factorial con la regresión lineal para calcular el ajuste de datos.…”

Características fonológicas en población escolar con dislexia: Un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales

“…Se analizó la covarianza entre las variables latentes; fluidez fonológica, fluidez semántica, repetición de pseudopalabras, repetición de frases, denominación del LG y comprensión verbal de las pruebas suministradas. Los MEE permiten validar constructos hipotéticos entre variables latentes a partir de variables observables, son una clase de estructuras multivariantes (Fogel et al, 2021). Estos modelos determinan la relación de dependencia o independencia mediante la integración de ecuaciones lineales, combinan la regresión lineal con el análisis factorial para calcular el ajuste de datos.…”