title: Development, Administration, and Structural Validity of a Brief, Computerized Neurocognitive Battery: Results From the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers.
abstract: The Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS) is a research project aimed at identifying risk and protective factors for suicide and related mental health outcomes among Army Soldiers. The New Soldier Study component of Army STARRS included the assessment of a range of cognitive- and emotion-processing domains linked to brain systems related to suicidal behavior including posttraumatic stress disorder, mood disorders, substance use disorders, and impulsivity. We describe the design and application of the Army STARRS neurocognitive test battery to a sample of 56,824 soldiers. We investigate its structural and concurrent validity through factor analysis and correlation of scores with demographics. We conclude that, in addition to being composed of previously well-validated measures, the Army STARRS neurocognitive battery as a whole demonstrates good psychometric properties. Correlations of scores with age and sex differences mostly replicate previously published findings, highlighting moderate to large effect sizes even within this restricted age range. Factor structures of scores conform to theoretical expectations. This neurocognitive battery provides a brief, valid measurement of neurocognition that may be helpful in predicting mental health and military performance. These measures can be integrated with neuroimaging to offer a powerful tool for assessing neurocognition in Servicemembers.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Tyler M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.|2 Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Ruben C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gur
authors.affiliation: 3 University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: 3 University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.|4 VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: 5 Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nock
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Adam P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Savitt
authors.affiliation: 6 New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.|7 Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Keilp
authors.affiliation: 8 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heeringa
authors.affiliation: 9 Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Ursano
authors.affiliation: 3 University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Murray B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D000073216:Mental Status and Dementia Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011930:Reaction Time; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D057190:Stroop Test; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Army STARRS; Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery; neurocognitive assessment; posttraumatic stress disorder; psychometrics