Analicia K Howard, Roselinde H Kaiser, Naomi P Friedman
The proposed model constitutes the first unified explanatory framework of executive functioning in Cuban university students, specifically as assessed through self-report measures. Its four-level hierarchical structure provides an empirically grounded guide for future research and interventions, capturing the subjective dimension of executive performance as a complementary and ecologically relevant level of analysis closely tied to academic adaptation and self-regulation.
INTRODUCTION: Abnormalities in reward sensitivity and cognitive control are observed in multiple psychiatric disorders. However, differences in measurement of reward sensitivity and cognitive control across studies have yielded mixed findings. Despite assumptions of convergence, the correlation between survey-based and task-based assessments of these constructs remains small.
METHODS: In this preregistered study of data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study (N = 11,875; ages 9-12 years), we examined relationships across these constructs and with psychopathology using exploratory structural equation modelling.
RESULTS: We found evidence for multiple cognitive control and reward sensitivity factors with modest correlations. Cognitive control and reward sensitivity independently related to both Internalizing and Externalizing psychopathology factors two years later (β = 0.01 to |0.605|).
DISCUSSION: Our findings highlight the utility of using multiple methods and raters to capture variance in reward sensitivity and cognitive control, showing they are multidimensional constructs each with unique relationships to psychopathology in adolescence.