title: Sluggish cognitive tempo in adults: Psychometric validation of the Adult Concentration Inventory.
abstract: [Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 30(3) ofPsychological Assessment(see record 2017-30273-001). In the article, the Table 1 item content was incorrectly ordered. The table, as well as text referencing Table 1 in the Results and Discussion, have been corrected in all versions of this article.] As interest in sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) increases, a primary limitation for the field is the lack of a unified set of symptoms for assessing SCT. No existing SCT measure includes all items identified in a recent meta-analysis as optimal for distinguishing between SCT and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) inattention. This study evaluates a new self-report measure for assessing SCT in adulthood, the Adult Concentration Inventory (ACI), which was developed in response to the meta-analytic findings for assessing SCT. Using a large, multiuniversity sample (N = 3,172), we evaluated the convergent and discriminant validity and reliability of the ACI. We also evaluated the ACI measure of SCT in relation to self-reported demographic characteristics, daily life executive functioning, socioemotional adjustment (i.e., anxiety/depression, loneliness, emotion dysregulation, self-esteem), and functional impairment. Exploratory confirmatory factor analyses resulted in 10 ACI items demonstrating strong convergent and discriminant validity from both anxiety/depressive and ADHD inattentive symptom dimensions. SCT was moderately to-strongly correlated with daily life EF deficits, poorer socioemotional adjustment, and greater global functional impairment. Moreover, SCT remained uniquely associated in structural regression analyses with most of these external criterion domains above and beyond ADHD. Finally, when internalizing symptoms were also covaried, SCT, but not ADHD inattention, remained significantly associated with poorer socioemotional adjustment. These findings support the use of the ACI in future studies examining SCT in adulthood and make a major contribution in moving the field toward a unified set of SCT items that can be used across studies. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Washington State University.
authors.forename: G Leonard
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University.
authors.forename: Annie A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Garner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama.
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jarrett
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Miami University.
authors.forename: Aaron M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Luebbe
authors.affiliation: Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
authors.forename: Jeffery N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder.
authors.forename: Erik G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Willcutt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult