IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intell/v90y2022ics0160289621000842.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The factor structure of executive function in childhood and adolescence

Author

Listed:
  • Laureys, Felien
  • De Waelle, Silke
  • Barendse, Maria T.
  • Lenoir, Matthieu
  • Deconinck, Frederik J.A.

Abstract

Executive functioning (EF) plays a major role in many domains of human behaviour, including self-regulation, academic achievement, and even sports expertise. While a significant proportion of cross-sectional research has focused on the developmental pathways of EF, the existing literature is fractionated due to a wide range of methodologies applied to narrow age ranges, impeding comparison across a broad range of age groups. The current study used a cross-sectional design to investigate the factor structure of EF within late childhood and adolescence. A total of 2166 Flemish children and adolescents completed seven tasks of the Cambridge Brain Sciences test battery. Based on the existing literature, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed, which indicated that a unitary factor model provides the best fit for the youngest age group (7–12 years). For the adolescents (12–18 years), the factor structure consists of four different components, including working memory, shifting, inhibition and planning. With regard to differences between early (12–15 years) and late (15–18 years) adolescents, working memory, inhibition and planning show higher scores for the late adolescents, while there was no difference on shifting. The current study is one of the first to administer the same seven EF tests in a considerably large sample of children and adolescents, and as such contributes to the understanding of the developmental trends in EF. Future studies, especially with longitudinal designs, are encouraged to further increase the knowledge concerning the factor structure of EF, and the development of the different EF components.

Suggested Citation

  • Laureys, Felien & De Waelle, Silke & Barendse, Maria T. & Lenoir, Matthieu & Deconinck, Frederik J.A., 2022. "The factor structure of executive function in childhood and adolescence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:90:y:2022:i:c:s0160289621000842
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2021.101600
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160289621000842
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intell.2021.101600?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fen Xu & Yan Han & Mark A Sabbagh & Tengfei Wang & Xuezhu Ren & Chunhua Li, 2013. "Developmental Differences in the Structure of Executive Function in Middle Childhood and Adolescence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-9, October.
    2. William Meredith, 1993. "Measurement invariance, factor analysis and factorial invariance," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 58(4), pages 525-543, December.
    3. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arendasy, Martin E. & Sommer, Markus & Tschiesner, Reinhard & Feldhammer-Kahr, Martina & Umdasch, Konstantin, 2024. "Using automatic item generation to construct scheduling problems measuring planning ability," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    2. Elena Escolano-Perez & José Luis Losada, 2024. "Using artificial intelligence in education: decision tree learning results in secondary school students based on cold and hot executive functions," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Fatima Wasif & Tara McAuley, 2024. "Exploring Close Relationships and Executive Functions as Unique and Joint Predictors of Adolescent Subjective Well-Being Across the Transition to High School," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Feraco, Tommaso & Cona, Giorgia, 2022. "Differentiation of general and specific abilities in intelligence. A bifactor study of age and gender differentiation in 8- to 19-year-olds," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlos Miguel Lemos & Ross Joseph Gore & Ivan Puga-Gonzalez & F LeRon Shults, 2019. "Dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity among Christians and the religiously unaffiliated: A cross-cultural analysis based on the International Social Survey Programme," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-36, May.
    2. Cromwell, Johnathan R. & Harvey, Jean-François, 2025. "A problem half-solved is a problem well-stated: Increasing the rate of innovation through team problem discovery," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(3).
    3. Gregor Sočan & Gaja Zager Kocjan, 2022. "Person-level assessment of measurement invariance," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3481-3503, October.
    4. Edgar Merkle & Achim Zeileis, 2013. "Tests of Measurement Invariance Without Subgroups: A Generalization of Classical Methods," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 78(1), pages 59-82, January.
    5. Claudia Marino & C. M. Hirst & C. Murray & A. Vieno & Marcantonio M. Spada, 2018. "Positive Mental Health as a Predictor of Problematic Internet and Facebook Use in Adolescents and Young Adults," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(7), pages 2009-2022, October.
    6. repec:plo:pone00:0239421 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Yaël Drunen & Bram Spruyt & Filip Droogenbroeck, 2021. "The Salience of Perceived Societal Conflict in Europe: A 27 Country Study on the Development of a Measure for Generalized Conflict Thinking," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(2), pages 595-635, December.
    8. Holendro Singh Chungkham & Michael Ingre & Robert Karasek & Hugo Westerlund & Töres Theorell, 2013. "Factor Structure and Longitudinal Measurement Invariance of the Demand Control Support Model: An Evidence from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-11, August.
    9. Sebastián Fierro-Suero & Bartolomé J. Almagro & Pedro Sáenz-López & José Carmona-Márquez, 2020. "Perceived Novelty Support and Psychological Needs Satisfaction in Physical Education," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-14, June.
    10. Anne-Laura van Harmelen & Jenny L Gibson & Michelle C St Clair & Matt Owens & Jeannette Brodbeck & Valerie Dunn & Gemma Lewis & Tim Croudace & Peter B Jones & Rogier A Kievit & Ian M Goodyer, 2016. "Friendships and Family Support Reduce Subsequent Depressive Symptoms in At-Risk Adolescents," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, May.
    11. Alexander Robitzsch, 2023. "Modeling Model Misspecification in Structural Equation Models," Stats, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-17, June.
    12. Alexander Robitzsch, 2025. "Standard Error Estimation in Invariance Alignment," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-14, June.
    13. Sonia Nawrocka & Hans De Witte & Margherita Pasini & Margherita Brondino, 2023. "A Person-Centered Approach to Job Insecurity: Is There a Reciprocal Relationship between the Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions of Job Insecurity?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-27, March.
    14. Johan Oud & Manuel Voelkle, 2014. "Do missing values exist? Incomplete data handling in cross-national longitudinal studies by means of continuous time modeling," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 3271-3288, November.
    15. Md. Mominur Rahman & Bilkis Akhter, 2021. "The impact of investment in human capital on bank performance: evidence from Bangladesh," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Masashi Soga & Kevin J. Gaston & Yuichi Yamaura & Kiyo Kurisu & Keisuke Hanaki, 2016. "Both Direct and Vicarious Experiences of Nature Affect Children’s Willingness to Conserve Biodiversity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-12, May.
    17. César Merino-Soto & Gina Chávez-Ventura & Verónica López-Fernández & Guillermo M. Chans & Filiberto Toledano-Toledano, 2022. "Learning Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-L): Psychometric and Measurement Invariance Evidence in Peruvian Undergraduate Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    18. Liat Ayalon, 2018. "Perceived Age Discrimination: A Precipitator or a Consequence of Depressive Symptoms?," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 73(5), pages 860-869.
    19. Steven Andrew Culpepper & Herman Aguinis & Justin L. Kern & Roger Millsap, 2019. "High-Stakes Testing Case Study: A Latent Variable Approach for Assessing Measurement and Prediction Invariance," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 84(1), pages 285-309, March.
    20. Ihsana Sabriani Borualogo & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Bullying Victimisation and Children’s Subjective Well-being: A Comparative Study in Seven Asian Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, February.
    21. Shelley H. Liu & Yitong Chen & Jordan R. Kuiper & Emily Ho & Jessie P. Buckley & Leah Feuerstahler, 2024. "Applying Latent Variable Models to Estimate Cumulative Exposure Burden to Chemical Mixtures and Identify Latent Exposure Subgroups: A Critical Review and Future Directions," Statistics in Biosciences, Springer;International Chinese Statistical Association, vol. 16(2), pages 482-502, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:90:y:2022:i:c:s0160289621000842. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.