Psychometric properties and clinical utility of the executive function inventory for children and adolescents: a large multistage populational study including children with ADHD

Abstract

Executive functions (EF) are a set of high order mental abilities that regulate cognition, emotions, and behavior. This study aims to report the construction and validation of a rating scale instrument for EF in children and adolescents aged from 5 to 18 years (EFICA), as well as to report the results of a comparison between children with ADHD and their peers without it. Thus, we conducted a population-based cross-sectional study relying on a sample composed of 3,284 typical children and adolescents accessed to study the psychometric properties of the parents' inventory (EFICA-P) and the teacher's inventory (EFICA-T) within a Structural Equation Modeling framework (SEM). Exploratory and confirmatory analyses were fitted, as well as the Cronbach's alpha and the McDonald's omega reliability indices. The known-groups method was carried out by independent Welch t-tests between untreated ADHD children and their peers. We concluded that the parents' inventory is composed of three dimensions (Cool Index 1, Cool Index 2, and Hot Index): v 2 (1,649) ¼ 4,607.852 p < .01, CFI ¼ .965, TLI .963, RMSEA ¼ .053, whereas the teachers inventory is composed of two dimensions (Cool Index and Hot Index): v 2 (1,273) ¼ 5,158.240, p < .01, CFI ¼ .991, TLI ¼ .991, RMSEA ¼ .077. The internal consistency of both inventories was >.9. Significant differences between the ADHD groups were found in all domains accessed. These findings indicate that both inventories have a high degree of validity regarding their internal structures, as well as supporting their clinical utility.

Executive functions scale for university students: UEF-1

“…Another research that is consistent with the study reported in this article is the report by Parhoon et al (2022) , Arruda et al (2022) , Castagna et al (2019) , Ramos-Galarza et al (2019) , and Bausela (2019) who highlight the importance of this type of executive function scale to analyze the symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder to identify developmental disorders and to analyze the role of executive functions in the educational setting.…”

The relation between harsh parenting and bullying involvement and the moderating role of child inhibitory control: A population‐based study

“…Second, we reported low, but significant, odd ratios, which indicate weak associations between harsh parenting, inhibitory control, and bullying involvement. As our outcome is focused on child behavior at the school setting, while our predictors are more likely reflections on parent and child behavior at home, there might be individual differences in behavior due to the differing demands and environmental structures across these two settings (e.g., Arruda et al, 2020 ). Third, it is likely that parents underreported on harsh parenting.…”

Treatment of migraine in children and adolescents. The state of the art

“…48,49 Nutraceuticals Despite the high expectations of supplements' success in the treatment of pediatric migraine, the positive evidence derives only from open-label trials, while the controlled ones could not demonstrate unequivocal superiority against placebo. Accordingly, some studies are found in the literature regarding riboflavin 50,51 , coenzyme Q10 52 , magnesium 53 , melatonin 54 , butterbur 55,56 and vitamin-D. 57…”