Abstract

The d2, test of attention is one of the most used neuropsychological tests to measure attention in clinical and research settings. To date, no studies have examined neither its convergent and divergent validity in children nor its relationship with academic skills at school age. The aims of the present study were: (1) to examine the convergent and divergent validity of the d2 Test in a non-clinical pediatric population, (2) to explore the relationship between d2 task performance and academic skills (i.e., math, reading and writing abilities) and (3) to develop normative data for Spanish-speaking children (n = 360 8- to 12-year-old children) stratified by age and socioeconomic status (SES). Pearson's correlation and Structural Equation Models (SEM) were used to analyze the d2 Test validity and its relationship with academic skills. A between-subjects factorial MANOVA was used to examine differences among SES (Middle, Low), age (8–10, 11–12), and sex (male, female). Findings revealed a significant relationship between d2 task performance and all attention and executive functions (EF) measures under analysis providing evidence of good convergent validity. Furthermore, SEM results showed that attention has direct effects on math and reading and writing skills. Finally, our study confirms the influence of age and SES on d2 task performance and provides normative data for middle- and low-SES children. These results have important implications for the assessment of attention functions in clinical and research settings in children with typical and atypical development.

摘要

d2，注意力测试是最常用的神经心理学测试之一，用于测量临床和研究环境中的注意力。迄今为止，没有研究既未检验其在儿童中的收敛效度或发散效度，也未检验其与学龄期学业技能的关系。本研究的目的是：（1）检验 d2 测试在非临床儿科人群中的收敛效度和发散效度，（2）探索 d2 任务表现与学术技能（即数学、阅读和写作能力）和（3）为讲西班牙语的儿童（n = 360 名 8 至 12 岁儿童）按年龄和社会经济地位 (SES) 分层。Pearson 的相关性和结构方程模型 (SEM) 用于分析 d2 测试的有效性及其与学术技能的关系。受试者间因子 MANOVA 用于检查 SES（中、低）、年龄（8-10、11-12）和性别（男性、女性）之间的差异。研究结果揭示了 d2 任务绩效与分析中的所有注意力和执行功能 (EF) 测量之间的显着关系，提供了良好收敛效度的证据。此外，SEM 结果表明，注意力对数学和阅读和写作技能有直接影响。最后，我们的研究证实了年龄和 SES 对 d2 任务表现的影响，并为中低 SES 儿童提供了规范数据。