Development of attention functions in 5- to 11-year-old Arab children as measured by the German Test Battery of Attention Performance (KITAP): A pilot study from Syria

Abstract

We administered the German Test-battery of Attention Performance (KITAP) to Arab children living in Syria (N = 143, 5–11 years) in order to assess the influence of age and gender on different dimensions of attention. The results demonstrate the validity of cross-cultural application of KITAP with Syrian school-aged children. The influence of age was more evident on speed of performance than on quality of performance, with rapid, general improvement until the age of 9 years. Some attention functions like alertness and inhibitory control seemed to be developed earlier than other functions like, flexibility, distractibility, and divided attention. Gender-related differences were observed in some subtests: Boys had faster reaction times but made more errors than girls. Interestingly, Arab-Syrian children showed better performance on some attention tests compared with German norms. The present study provides support for the use of cross-cultural studies for better understanding of the development of attention in school-aged children.

Keywords:

• Attention functions
• Arab-Syrian children
• School age
• Development
• Cultural application

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Deutsche Akademische Austausch Dienst (DAAD) [German Academic Exchange Service]. We would like to thank the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for the Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Damascus, and the Syrian Ministry of Education for assisting us in recruiting volunteers to participate in this exercise. We are grateful to all the children, teachers, and parents who participated in this study.