Trajectories of Adaptive Behaviors During Childhood in Females and Males in the General Population

Abstract

Little is known about the trajectory patterns and sex differences in adaptive behaviors in the general population. We examined the trajectory classes of adaptive behaviors using a representative sample and examined whether the class structure and trajectory patterns differed between females and males. We further explored sex differences in neurodevelopmental traits in each latent class. Participants (n = 994) were children in the Hamamatsu Birth Cohort for Mothers and Children (HBC Study)—a prospective birth cohort study. Adaptive behaviors in each domain of communication, daily living skills, and socialization were evaluated at five time points when participants were 2.7, 3.5, 4.5, 6, and 9 years old using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales–Second Edition. Parallel process multigroup latent class growth analysis extracted sex-specific trajectory classes. Neurodevelopmental traits of children at age 9, autistic traits, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits, and cognitive ability were examined for females and males in each identified class. A 4-class model demonstrated the best fit. Moreover, a 4-class model that allowed for differences in class probabilities and means of growth parameters between females and males provided a better fit than a model assuming no sex differences. In the communication domain, females scored higher than their male counterparts in all four classes. In the daily living skills and socialization domains, the two higher adaptive classes (Class 1: females, 18.6%; males, 17.8%; Class 2: females, 48.8%; males, 49.8%) had similar trajectories for males and females, whereas in the two lower adaptive behavior classes (Class 3: females, 27.5%; males, 29.4%; Class 4: females, 5.1%; males, 3.0%), females had higher adaptive scores than their male counterparts. In Class 4, females were more likely to have autistic and ADHD traits exceeding the cutoffs, while males were more likely to have below-average IQ. Different trajectories in females and males suggest that adaptive skills may require adjustment based on the sex of the child, when standardizing scores, in order to achieve better early detection of skill impairment.

Adaptive Behavior in Slovak Children with Intellectual Disability in Institutional Care

“…Another important result of our study is the gender differences in AB in children with ID and BIF. This supports the need to have adequate gender-specific AB assessment tools [ 17 ].…”

“…Some studies that include typically developing children and children with neurodevelopmental disorders also point to gender differences in adaptive behavior [ 17 , 57 , 68 , 69 , 70 ]. Differences are often in Communication domains, where girls, both in the general population and with disorders, have better results [ 17 ]. In our group, girls scored higher in Communication, but the difference was not significant.…”

“…In a longitudinal study of Japanese children from the general population, gender differences were observed in the Daily Living Skills and Socialization domains, especially in children with lower intelligence; on the contrary, gender differences were not observed in children with average intelligence. These differences persisted over time [ 17 ].…”

“…The different trajectories for girls and boys suggest that assessing adaptive behavior requires consideration of the child’s gender. It may play an essential role in the early identification of children with deficits (e.g., ASD) [ 17 ].…”

“…Moreover, it seems that they occur at different ages in different domains of adaptive behavior. On the other hand, girls with neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., autism spectrum disorder—ASD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder—ADHD) appear to have higher adaptive scores than their male peers [ 16 , 17 ]. The educational and social environment provides a stimulus and an opportunity to acquire skills [ 18 ].…”