Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T16:22:32.800Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structure and Invariance of Executive Functioning Tasks across Socioeconomic Status: Evidence from Spanish-Speaking Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2013

Vanessa Arán-Filippetti
Vanessa Arán-Filippetti*
Affiliation:
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Vanessa Arán Filippetti. Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Psicología Matemática y Experimental (CIIPME). Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Tte. Gral. Juan D. Perón, 2158. C1040AAH. Buenos Aires (Argentina). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to analyze the latent structure of executive functions (EFs) in Spanish-speaking children and to test measurement invariance across socioeconomic status (SES). We sampled 248 children, aged 8 to 12, who were divided into two groups: 124 children from a medium socioeconomic status (MSS) and 124 children from a low socioeconomic status (LSS). We applied a neuropsychological battery consisting of various EF tasks and performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multi-group CFA (MGCFA). CFA showed best fit for the three factor solution: (a) Working memory, (b) Cognitive flexibility, and (c) Inhibition. Moreover, the MGCFA revealed that the three-factor solution was invariant (configural, metric, and structural) across SES, allowing valid comparison between the groups (MSS and LSS) of factors. Finally, bifactorial MANOVA revealed a significant effect of SES and group age but not for the interaction between the two in the three EF dimensions indicative of quantitative group differences. Results are discussed in terms of the dimensional nature of the EF construct and the effects of SES on executive functioning.

Keywords

executive functionsconfirmatory factor analysismeasurement invariancechild neuropsychology
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E101
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adleman, N. E, Menon, V., Blasey, C. M., White, C. D., Warsofsky, I. S., Glover, G. H., & Reiss, A. L. (2002). A developmental fMRI study of the Stroop color–word task. NeuroImage, 16, 61–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2001.1046 Google Scholar
Arán Filippetti, V., & Allegri, R. F. (2011). Verbal fluency in Spanish-speaking children: Analysis model according to task type, clustering, and switching strategies and performance over time. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 25, 413–436. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2011.559481 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arán Filippetti, V., & Richaud de Minzi, M. C. (2011). Efectos de un programa de intervención para aumentar la reflexividad y la planificación en un ámbito escolar de alto riesgo por pobreza [Effects of a training program to increase reflexivity and planning in a school area at risk due to poverty]. Universitas Psychologica, 10, 341–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arán Filippetti, V., & Richaud de Minzi, M. C. (2012). A structural analysis of executive functions and socioeconomic status in school-age children: Cognitive factors as effect mediators. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 173, 393–416 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2011.602374 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arbuckle, J. L. (2007). Amos 16.0 user´s guide. Chicago, CA: SPSS, Inc.Google Scholar
Arce, E., & Santisteban, C. (2006). Impulsivity: A review. Psicothema, 18, 213–220.Google Scholar
Archibald, S. J., & Kerns, K. A. (1999). Identification and description of new tests of executive functioning in children. Child Neuropsychology, 5, 115–129. http://dx.doi.org/10.1076%2Fchin.5.2.115.3167 Google Scholar
Ardila, A., & Rosselli, M. (1994). Development of language, memory, and visuospatial abilities in 5- to 12-year-old children using a neuropsychological battery. Developmental Neuropsychology,10, 97–120. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565649409540571 Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In Bower, G. H. (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (pp. 47–90). New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. D. (1992). Working memory. Science, 255, 556–559. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1736359 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barkley, R. A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of AD/HD. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 65–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boone, K. B., Pontón, M. O., Gorsuch, R. L., González, J. J., & Miller, B. L. (1998). Factor analysis of four measures of prefrontal lobe functioning. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 13, 585–595. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6177(97)00074-7 Google Scholar
Brocki, K. C., & Bohlin, G. (2004). Executive functions in children aged 6 to 13: A dimensional and developmental study. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 571–593. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15326942dn2602_3 Google Scholar
Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. J. (1997). The effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children, 7, 55–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1602387 Google Scholar
Brookshire, B., Levin, H. S., Song, J., & Zhang, L. (2004). Components of executive function in typically developing and head-injured children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 25, 61–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2004.9651922 Google Scholar
Cairns, E. D., & Cammock, T. (1978). Development of a more reliable version of the Matching Familiar Figures Test. Developmental Psychology, 14, 555–560. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0012-1649.14.5.555 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, D. (1998). The conceptualization and analysis of change over time: An integrative approach incorporating longitudinal and covariance structures analysis (LMACS) and multiple indicator latent growth modeling (MLGM). Organizational Research Methods, 1, 421–483. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/109442819814004 Google Scholar
Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 9, 233–255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5 Google Scholar
Chugani, H. T. (1999). Metabolic imaging: A window on brain development and plasticity. The Neuroscientist, 5, 29–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/107385849900500105 Google Scholar
Collette, F., van der Linden, M., Laureys, S., Delfiore, G., Degueldre, C., Luxen, A., & Salmon, E. (2005). Exploring the unity and diversity of the neural substrates of executive functioning. Human Brain Mapping, 25, 409–423. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20118 Google Scholar
de Frias, C. M., Dixon, R. A., & Strauss, E. (2006). Structure of four executive functioning tests in healthy older adults. Neuropsychology, 20, 206–214. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0894-4105.20.2.206 Google Scholar
Della Sala, S., Gray, C., Spinnler, H., & Trivelli, C. (1998). Frontal lobe functioning in man: The riddle revisited. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 13, 663–682. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0887-6177(97)00093-0 Google Scholar
Diamond, A. (2002). Normal development of prefrontal cortex from birth to young adulthood: Cognitive functions, anatomy, and biochemistry. In Stuss, D. T. & Knight, R. T. (Eds.), Principles of frontal lobe function (pp. 466–503). London, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Diamond, A. (2006). The early development of executive functions. In Bialystok, E. & Craik, F. (Eds.), Lifespan cognition: Mechanisms of change (pp. 70–95). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195169539.003.0006 Google Scholar
Duncan, J. (2001). An adaptive coding model of neural function in prefrontal cortex. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2, 820–829. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35097557 Google Scholar
Duncan, J., Emslie, H., Williams, P., Johnson, R., & Freer, C. (1996). Intelligence and the frontal lobe: The organization of goal-directed behavior. Cognitive Psychology, 30, 257–303. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1996.0008 Google Scholar
Ensminger, M. E., & Fothergill, K. E. (2003). A decade of measuring SES: What it tells us and where to go from here. In Bornstein, M. H. & Bradley, R. H. (Eds.), Socioeconomic status, parenting and child development (pp. 13–27). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Eslinger, P. J., Biddle, K., Pennington, B., & Page, R. B. (1999). Cognitive and behavioral development up to 4 years after early right frontal lobe lesion. Developmental Neuropsychology, 15, 157–191. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565649909540744 Google Scholar
Eslinger, P. J., & Grattan, L. M. (1993). Frontal lobe and frontal-striatal substrates for different forms of human cognitive flexibility. Neuropsychologia, 31, 17–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932(93)90077-D Google Scholar
Espy, K. A., Kaufmann, P. M., McDiarmid, M. D., & Glisky, M. L. (1999). Executive functioning in preschool children: Performance on A-not-B and other delayed response format tasks. Brain and Cognition, 41, 178–199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/brcg.1999.1117 Google Scholar
Farah, M. J., Shera, D. M., Savage, J. H., Betancourt, L., Giannetta, J. M., Brodsky, N. L., …Hurt, H. (2006). Childhood poverty: Specific associations with neurocognitive development. Brain Research, 1110, 166–174. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2006.06.072 Google Scholar
Fisk, J. E., & Sharp, C. A. (2004). Age-related impairment in executive functioning: Updating, inhibition, shifting, and access. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 26, 874–890. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13803390490510680 Google Scholar
Fuhs, M. W., & Day, J. D. (2011). Verbal ability and executive functioning development in preschoolers at head start. Developmental Psychology, 47, 404–416. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0021065 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuster, J. M. (1997). The Prefrontal Cortex: Anatomy, Physiology, and Neuropsychology of the Frontal Lobe. (3 rd Ed.) Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven.Google Scholar
Gathercole, S. E., Pickering, S. J., Ambridge, B., & Wearing, H. (2004). The structure of working memory from 4 to 15 years of age. Developmental Psychology, 40, 177–190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.177 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerstadt, C., Hong, Y. J., & Diamond, A. (1994). The relationship between cognition and action: Performance of 31/2–7 year old children on a Stroop-like day-night test. Cognition, 53, 129–153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90068-X Google Scholar
Giedd, J. N., Blumenthal, J., Jeffries, N. O., Castellanos, F. X., Liu, H., Zijdenbos, A., … Rapoport, J. L. (1999). Brain development during childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 2, 861–863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gogtay, N., Giedd, J. N., Lusk, L., Hayashi, K. M., Greenstein, D., Vaituzis, A. C., … Thompson, P. M. (2004). Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101, 8174–8179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0402680101 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Godefroy, O., Cabaret, M., Petit-Chenal, V., Pruvo, J.-P., & Rousseaux, M. (1999). Control functions of the frontal lobes: Modularity of the central-supervisory system? Cortex, 35, 1–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70782-2 Google Scholar
Golden, C. J. (1978). Stroop Color and Word Test. A manual for clinical and experimental uses. Wood Dale, IL: Stoelting.Google Scholar
Greve, K. W., Stickle, T. R., Love, J. M., Bianchini, K. J., & Stanford, M. S. (2005). Latent structure of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: A confirmatory factor analytic study. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20, 355–364. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acn.2004.09.004 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haut, M. W., Kuwabara, H., Leach, S., & Arias, R. G. (2000). Neural activation during performance of number–letter sequencing. Applied Neuropsychology: Adult, 7, 237–242. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15324826AN0704_5 Google Scholar
Heaton, R. K., Chelune, G. J., Talley, J. L., Kay, G. G., & Curtiss, G. (1993). Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) manual (revised and expanded). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Henry, J. D., & Crawford, J. R. (2004). A meta-analytic review of verbal fluency performance following focal cortical lesions. Neuropsychology, 18, 284–295. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0894-4105.18.2.284 Google Scholar
Huizinga, M., Dolan, C. V., & van der Molen, M. W. (2006). Age-related change in executive function: Developmental trends and a latent variable analysis. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2017–2036. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.01.010 Google Scholar
Huttenlocher, P. R., & Dabholkar, A. S. (1997). Regional differences in synaptogenesis in human cerebral cortex. The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 387, 167–178. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1096-9861(19971020)387:2<167::AID-CNE1>3.0.CO;2-Z Google Scholar
Juliano, D. B. (1977). Reflection-Impulsivity and concept learning in disadvantaged and middle class children. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 96, 103–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1977.9921424 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaufman, A. S., & Kaufman, N. L. (1990). K-BIT. Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Kishiyama, M. M., Boyce, W. T., Jimenez, A. M., Perry, L. M., & Knight, R. T. (2009). Socioeconomic disparities affect prefrontal function in children. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 21, 1106–1115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21101 Google Scholar
Klenberg, L., Korkman, M., & Lahti-Nuuttila, P. (2001). Differential development of attention and executive functions in 3- to 12-year-old Finnish children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 20, 407–428. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15326942DN2001_6 Google Scholar
Krikorian, R., & Bartok, J. A. (1998). Developmental data for the Porteus maze test. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 12, 305–310. http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/clin.12.3.305.1984 Google Scholar
Lehto, J. E., Juujärvi, P., Kooistra, L., & Pulkkinen, L. (2003). Dimensions of executive functioning: Evidence from children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21, 59–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/026151003321164627 Google Scholar
Levin, H. S., Culhane, K. A., Hartmann, J., Evankovich, K., Mattson, A. J., Harward, H., … Fletcher, J. M. (1991). Developmental changes in performance on tests of purported frontal lobe functioning. Developmental Neuropsychology, 7, 377–395. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565649109540499 Google Scholar
Levin, H. S., Fletcher, J. M., Kufera, J. A., Harward, H., Lilly, M. A., Mendelsohn, D., … Eisenberg, H. M. (1996). Dimensions of cognition measured by the Tower of London and other cognitive tasks in head-injured children and adolescents. Developmental Neuropsychology, 12, 17–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565649609540638 Google Scholar
Lezak, M. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment. (3ª Ed.) New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
López Campo, G. X., Gómez-Betancur, L. A., Aguirre-Acevedo, D. C., Puerta, I. C., & Pineda, D. A. (2005). Componentes de las pruebas de atención y función ejecutiva en niños con trastorno por déficit de atención/hiperactividad. [Attention and executive function tests components in attention deficit/hyperactivity children]. Revista de Neurología, 40, 331–339.Google Scholar
Luria, A. R. (1966). Higher cortical functions in man. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
McCabe, D. P., Roediger, H. L., McDaniel, M. A., Balota, D. A., & Hambrick, D. Z. (2010). The relationship between working memory capacity and executive functioning: Evidence for a common executive attention construct. Neuropsychology, 24, 222–243. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0017619 Google Scholar
Méndez-Castellano, H., & de Méndez, M. C. (1994). Sociedad y estratificación. Método Graffar – Mendez Castellano [Society and stratification. Graffar–Mendez Castellano Method]. Caracas, Venezuela: Fundacredesa.Google Scholar
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “Frontal Lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41, 49–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734 Google Scholar
Mumbauer, C. C., & Miller, J. O. (1970). Socioeconomic background and cognitive functioning in preschool children. Child Development, 41, 471–480. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1127046 Google Scholar
Noble, K. G., McCandliss, B. D., & Farah, M. J. (2007). Socioeconomic gradients predict individual differences in neurocognitive abilities. Developmental Science, 10, 464–480. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00600.x Google Scholar
Noble, K. G., Norman, M. F., & Farah, M. J. (2005). Neurocognitive correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten children. Developmental Science, 8, 74–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.00394.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nigg, J. T. (2000). On Inhibition/disinhibition in developmental psychopathology: Views from cognitive and psychology and a working inhibition taxonomy. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 220–246. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.126.2.220 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Otero, G. A., Pliego-Rivero, F. B., Fernández, T., & Ricardo, J. (2003). EEG development in children with sociocultural disadvantages: A follow-up study. Clinical neurophysiology, 114, 1918–1925. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1388-2457(03)00173-1 Google Scholar
Pineda, D., Ardila, A., Rosselli, M., Cadavid, C., Mancheno, S., & Mejia, S. (1998). Executive dysfunctions in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. International Journal of Neuroscience, 96, 177–196. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/00207459808986466 Google Scholar
Pineda, D. A., Merchán, V., Rosselli, M., & Ardila, A. (2000). Estructura factorial de la función ejecutiva en estudiantes universitarios jóvenes. [Factor structure of the executive function in young university students]. Revista de Neurología, 31, 1112–1118.Google Scholar
Pennington, B. F., & Ozonoff, S. (1996). Executive functions and developmental psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 51–87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01380.x Google Scholar
Porteus, S. D. (1965). Porteus Maze Test: Fifty years Application. New York, NY: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Roberts, R. J., & Pennington, B. F. (1996). An interactive framework for examining prefrontal cognitive processes. Developmental Neuropsychology, 12, 105–126. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565649609540642 Google Scholar
Rodríguez-Aranda, C., & Sundet, K. (2006). The frontal hypothesis of cognitive aging: Factor structure and age effects on four frontal tests among healthy individuals. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 167, 269–287. http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/GNTP.167.3.269-287 Google Scholar
Rosenthal, E. N., Riccio, C. A., Gsanger, K. M., & Pizzitola Jarratt, K. (2006). Digit Span components as predictors of attention problems and executive functioning in children. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 21, 131–139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acn.2005.08.004 Google Scholar
Senn, T. E., Espy, K. A., & Kaufmann, P. M. (2004). Using path analysis to understand executive function organization in preschool children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 445–464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15326942dn2601_5 Google Scholar
Shallice, T. (1982). Specific impairments of planning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 298, 199–209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1982.0082 Google Scholar
Sowell, E. R., Thompson, P. M., Tessner, K. D., & Toga, A. W. (2001). Mapping continued brain growth and gray matter density reduction in dorsal frontal cortex: Inverse relationships during postadolescent brain maturation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 8819–8829.Google Scholar
St Clair-Thompson, H. L., & Gathercole, S. E. (2006). Executive functions and achievements in school: Shifting, updating, inhibition, and working memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59, 745–759. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470210500162854 Google Scholar
Stuss, D. T., & Alexander, M. P. (2000). Executive functions and the frontal lobes: A conceptual view. Psychological Research, 63, 289–298. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s004269900007 Google Scholar
Stuss, D. T., & Benson, D. F. (1986). The frontal lobes. New York, NY: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Tomarken, A. J., Dichter, G. S., Garber, J., & Simien, C. (2004). Resting frontal brain activity: Linkages to maternal depression and socio-economic status among adolescents. Biological Psychology, 67, 77–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.03.011 Google Scholar
van der Sluis, S., de Jong, , , P. F., & van der Leij, A. (2007). Executive functioning in children, and its relations with reasoning, reading, and arithmetic. Intelligence, 35, 427–449. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2006.09.001 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. (2003). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Weintraub, S. (1973). Self-control as a correlate of an internalizing-externalizing symptom dimension. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 1, 292–307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00917739 Google Scholar
Welsh, M. C., Pennington, B. F., & Groisser, D. B. (1991). A normative-developmental study of executive function: A window on prefrontal function in children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 7, 131–149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87565649109540483 Google Scholar
Wiebe, S. A., Espy, K. A., & Charak, D. (2008). Using confirmatory factor analysis to understand executive control in preschool children: I. Latent structure. Developmental Psychology, 44, 575–587. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.2.575 Google Scholar
Wiebe, S. A., Sheffield, T., Nelson, J. M., Clark, C. A. C., Chevalier, N., & Espy, K. A. (2011). The structure of executive function in 3-year-olds. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108, 436–452. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2010.08.008 Google Scholar