The Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory (AEFI): Psychometric properties and demographically corrected normative data for adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years

Abstract

The Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory (AEFI) is a newly developed brief self-report questionnaire to assess three important components of the executive aspects of daily-life behavior--that is, Attention, Self-Control and Self-Monitoring, and Planning and Initiative. In a population-based study, the AEFI was administered to N = 6,730 Dutch adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years. Psychometric analyses showed that the construct validity and the reliability of the AEFI were adequate. Educational level and gender affected the different AEFI scale scores. Regression-based normative data that took these demographic influences into account were established, so that the AEFI can be used by clinicians and researchers who need to assess executive aspects of daily-life behavior.

Effects of age and school type on unconstrained, phonemic, and semantic verbal fluency in children

“…Verbal fluency tasks (VFT) are widely used in neuropsychological assessment, and performance on these instruments has been found to be affected by both biological and sociocultural factors (Aarnoudse-Moens, Duivenvoorden, Weisglas-Kuperus, Van Goudoever, & Oosterlaan, 2012;Arán-Filippetti, 2011;Arán-Filippetti & Minzi, 2012;Ardila et al, 2005;Catale, Willems, Lejeune, & Meulemans, 2012;Klenberg et al, 2001;Van der Elst et al, 2012). These tasks have also been used to identify the cognitive profiles associated with different clinical conditions and have contributed to the discrimination between these disorders (Szatkowska, Grabowska, & Szymañ ska, 2000).…”

Self-perceived Problems in Sleeping and in Self-control Are Related to First Year Study Success in Higher Education

“…The validated rating scale Amsterdam executive function inventory (AEFI) was developed to measure only three aspects of subjective executive functioning; these have also been described in many earlier papers (Gioia et al, 2000;Van der Elst et al, 2012;Diamond, 2013). The AEFI is particular suitable for the measurement of subjective executive functioning in middle and late adolescents at school by means of a short self-report questionnaire.…”

“…Answers were given on a five-point Likert scale ranging from "totally agree" (five points) to "totally disagree" (one point). Validity and reliability were evaluated in a large sample of adolescents aged 15-18 years ( Van der Elst et al, 2012). In another study, some adjustments were made to the wording of the questions in order to suit the current group of respondents (Baars et al, 2015).…”

“…The present study evaluates student's self-reported quality of sleep. Three aspects of self-perceived EF were measured by means of self-reporting using a validated questionnaire (Van der Elst et al, 2012). Such a selfreport questionnaire was preferred over the use of tests, and is more suitable for this study, because of the interest in self-insight and behavior (and not on cognitive performance, for which EF tests are more suitable).…”

“…Note that also the widely used Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (Gioia et al, 2000) investigates the self-evaluation of various aspects of executive functioning and has been used in many studies and (thousands of) scientific papers. Self-report questionnaires are the method of choice for the assessment of subjective functioning Guy et al, 2004;Van der Elst et al, 2012;Teterink and Jolles, 2017).…”