Nigg J T, Quamma J P, Greenberg M T, Kusche C A
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824, USA.
J Abnorm Child Psychol. 1999 Feb;27(1):51-63. doi: 10.1023/a:1022614407893.
Despite interest in early neuropsychological status as a possible contributor to children's behavioral development, prospective longitudinal investigations of neuropsychological measures in relation to later behavioral outcomes in childhood are few. A 2-year longitudinal study in a nonselected childhood sample is reported. The study tested the influence of early neuropsychological performance (verbal fluency, mental inhibitory control, and visual spatial ability) on later childhood behavioral problems and social competency. Regular education children (n = 235) were assessed at three time points 1 year apart. To control for autocorrelation of outcome measures, Time 1 behavior was partialed while testing the effects of Time 1 neuropsychological scores on Time 3 outcome. To control for autocorrelation of neuropsychological scores, Time 2 scores were partialed while testing the predictive effect of Time 1 scores on Time 3 outcome. Both sets of regression models suggested modest but statistically significant effects for inhibitory control and verbal fluency, but not IQ, reading, or visual spatial ability, on behavioral outcome. Study results are consistent with a modest causal effect of selected neuropsychological skills on later behavioral adjustment. The findings support theories that implicate subtle neuropsychological dysfunction in the development of behavioral problems in childhood.
尽管早期神经心理状态作为儿童行为发展的一个可能影响因素备受关注，但针对儿童期神经心理测量与后期行为结果之间关系的前瞻性纵向研究却很少。本文报告了一项对非特定儿童样本进行的为期两年的纵向研究。该研究测试了早期神经心理表现（语言流畅性、心理抑制控制和视觉空间能力）对后期儿童行为问题和社会能力的影响。对普通教育儿童（n = 235）在相隔一年的三个时间点进行了评估。为了控制结果测量的自相关性，在测试时间1的神经心理分数对时间3结果的影响时，对时间1的行为进行了偏相关分析。为了控制神经心理分数的自相关性，在测试时间1分数对时间3结果的预测作用时，对时间2分数进行了偏相关分析。两组回归模型均表明，抑制控制和语言流畅性对行为结果有适度但具有统计学意义的影响，而智商、阅读或视觉空间能力则没有，研究结果与所选神经心理技能对后期行为调整有适度因果效应的观点一致。这些发现支持了那些认为儿童期行为问题发展中存在细微神经心理功能障碍的理论。
