Department of Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard University Pilgrim Health Care Institute.
Psychol Assess. 2023 Apr;35(4):353-365. doi: 10.1037/pas0001202. Epub 2023 Jan 12.
Despite the critical importance of attention for children's self-regulation and mental health, there are few task-based measures of this construct appropriate for use across a wide childhood age range including very young children. Three versions of a combined go/no-go and continuous performance task (GNG/CPT) were created with varying length and timing parameters to maximize their appropriateness for age groups spanning early to middle childhood. As part of the baseline assessment of a clinical trial, 452 children aged 3-12 years (50% male, 50% female; 52% White, non-Hispanic, 27% Black, 16% Hispanic/Latinx; 6% other ethnicity/race) completed the task. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that all task versions assessed two latent factors, labeled response inhibition and sustained attention. Versions for older children elicited lower overall accuracy while equating levels of inhibitory demand. All versions showed limited floor and ceiling effects, as well as developmental sensitivity. Boys showed higher commission error rates and children from lower income households showed lower performance across multiple task metrics. Task metrics, especially d prime and accuracy summary scores, correlated with parent-reported executive function and externalizing behavior. Task scores show promise as valid and sensitive indicators of inhibition and sustained attention across heterogeneous pediatric age groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
尽管注意力对于儿童的自我调节和心理健康至关重要，但很少有基于任务的方法可以测量这一概念，且这些方法适用于广泛的儿童年龄范围，包括非常年幼的儿童。本研究创建了三种结合了 Go/No-Go 和连续性能任务（GNG/CPT）的版本，其长度和时间参数各不相同，以最大限度地适应从早期到中期儿童的年龄组。作为一项临床试验基线评估的一部分，452 名年龄在 3-12 岁的儿童（50%为男性，50%为女性；52%为白人，非西班牙裔，27%为黑人，16%为西班牙裔/拉丁裔；6%为其他族裔/种族）完成了任务。验证性因素分析表明，所有任务版本均评估了两个潜在因素，分别标记为反应抑制和持续注意力。较年长儿童的版本在平衡抑制需求水平的同时，整体准确性较低。所有版本都显示出有限的地板效应和天花板效应，以及发展敏感性。男孩的错误率较高，来自低收入家庭的儿童在多项任务指标上的表现较低。任务指标，尤其是 d'prime 和准确性综合得分，与父母报告的执行功能和外化行为相关。任务得分有望成为抑制和持续注意力在异质儿科年龄组中有效和敏感的指标。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2023 APA，保留所有权利）。
