title: Attention Problems as a Mediator of the Relation between Executive Function and Social Problems in a Child and Adolescent Outpatient Sample.
abstract: Social functioning is critical for the successful navigation of everyday life for children, adolescents, and adults. Recent theories have postulated a neuropsychological basis for social functioning with particularly strong links with the executive functioning (EF) system. The current study examined attention problems as a mediator between EF (e.g., working memory, planning, and response inhibition) and social functioning in a child and adolescent outpatient sample. Participants were 218 children ages 6-16 (M = 10.23; SD = 2.52; 68.8 % males) who were referred to an outpatient clinic for psychoeducational assessment. Bias-corrected bootstrapping mediation analyses were used to examine the hypothesized models. The effects of working memory and planning (but not response inhibition) on social problems were mediated by attention problems in both teacher- and mother-reported models. These findings also held up in cross-source models (e.g., mother-reported attention problems as a mediator in a model predicting teacher-reported social problems). These findings have implications for dimensional models of social functioning and conceptual models for specific clinical populations (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).
authors: Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA. dchilton@crimson.ua.edu.
authors: Dane C
authors: DC
authors: Hilton
authors: Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA.
authors: Matthew A
authors: MA
authors: Jarrett
authors: Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA.
authors: Kristina L
authors: KL
authors: McDonald
authors: Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 460 Turner Street, Suite 207, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
authors: Thomas H
authors: TH
authors: Ollendick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D000066553:Problem Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Attention problems; Executive functioning; Planning; Social functioning; Working memory