Uljarević Mirko, Cai Ru Ying, Hardan Antonio Y, Frazier Thomas W
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
Aspect Research Centre for Autism Practice, Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 Jan 10;13:1078211. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1078211. eCollection 2022.
Executive functioning (EF) processes are essential for adaptive and flexible responding to the demands and complexities of everyday life. Conversely, if impaired, these processes are a key transdiagnostic risk factor that cuts across autism and a range of other neurodevelopmental (NDD) and neuropsychiatric (NPD) conditions. However, there are currently no freely available informant-report measures that comprehensively characterize non-affective (e.g., working memory, response inhibition, and set shifting) and affective (e.g., emotion regulation) EF subdomains. This study describes the development, refinement, and initial psychometric evaluation of a new 52-item Executive Functioning Scale (EFS). Two independent data collections yielded exploratory ( = 2004, 169 with autism, ages 2-17) and confirmatory ( = 954, 74 with autism, ages 2-17) samples. Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) model with six specific factors that closely matched hypothesized executive functioning subdomains of working memory and sequencing, response inhibition, set-shifting, processing speed, emotion regulation, and risk avoidance, and one general factor, showed the best fit to the data and invariance across age, sex, race, and ethnicity groups. Model reliability and internal consistency were excellent for the general factor (ω = 0.98; α = 0.97) and specific factors (ω ≥ 0.89-0.96; α ≥ 0.84-0.94). Conditional reliability estimates indicated excellent reliability (≥0.90) for the total EF scale and adequate or better reliability (≥0.70) for subscale scores. With further replication, the EFS has excellent potential for wide adoption across research and clinical contexts.
执行功能（EF）过程对于适应和灵活应对日常生活的需求与复杂性至关重要。相反，如果这些过程受损，它们就是一个关键的跨诊断风险因素，贯穿自闭症以及一系列其他神经发育（NDD）和神经精神（NPD）疾病。然而，目前尚无免费的 informant - report 测量方法能够全面描述非情感性（如工作记忆、反应抑制和定势转换）和情感性（如情绪调节）的 EF 子领域。本研究描述了一种新的 52 项执行功能量表（EFS）的开发、完善和初步心理测量评估。两次独立的数据收集产生了探索性样本（ = 2004，169 名自闭症患者，年龄 2 - 17 岁）和验证性样本（ = 954，74 名自闭症患者，年龄 2 - 17 岁）。具有六个特定因素（与工作记忆和序列、反应抑制、定势转换、处理速度、情绪调节和风险规避的假设执行功能子领域紧密匹配）和一个一般因素的探索性结构方程模型（ESEM），显示出与数据的最佳拟合以及在年龄、性别、种族和族裔群体中的不变性。模型的可靠性和内部一致性对于一般因素（ω = 0.98；α = 0.97）和特定因素（ω ≥ 0.89 - 0.96；α ≥ 0.84 - 0.94）而言非常出色。条件可靠性估计表明，EF 总量表具有出色的可靠性（≥0.90），子量表得分具有足够或更好的可靠性（≥0.70）。随着进一步的重复验证，EFS 在研究和临床环境中广泛应用具有巨大潜力。
