Psychometric properties of the childhood executive functioning inventory (CHEXI): A confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance by sex and age in Iranian children

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties, factor structure, and measurement invariance of the Persian version of the Childhood Executive functioning Inventory (CHEXI). Participants were 1076 typically developing children, 6- to 12-years old (M _age=  9.2 years, SD _age=  1.96); females (52.1%) recruited from 17 provinces and 30 children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (females, % 36) and 30 children with specific learning disability (SLD) (females, % 40). Children's parents completed CHEXI and the Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale-Children and Adolescents (BDEFS-CA). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the two-factor structure, including (1) working memory and (2) inhibition, which had been identified previously. The Results showed that the CHEXI had high internal consistency and adequate test-retest reliability. The CHEXI was found to be invariant by sex (female vs. male) and age (7 age groups) across all factors. Lastly, the CHEXI demonstrated adequate convergent validity with the BDEFS-CA and known-group validity. We highlighted the implications of these findings for using CHEXI in typically developing children and clinical samples, along with directions for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Executive function
• Rating scale
• Reliability
• Confirmatory factor analysis
• Measurement invariance
• Iranian children

Acknowledgments

We are extremely grateful to all children, their families.

Availability of the data

The data can be retrieved from the first author by request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were following the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

Our work was funded by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) [grant no INFS/96007286].