ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Symptoms of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) are correlated with inattention and internalizing difficulties. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether symptoms of SCT reflect comorbid internalizing disorder with ADHD or a separate syndrome. METHOD: Using a clinical sample of youth evaluated for behavioral and learning difficulties (N = 73), this study examined whether SCT remains associated with symptoms of ADHD after accounting for comorbid symptoms of anxiety and depression reported by children and parents. RESULTS: SCT symptoms were correlated with inattention and parent reports of child depression, but not with parent-reported anxiety or child reports of internalizing problems. Inattention (in the absence of hyperactivity/impulsivity) remained uniquely associated with SCT even after accounting for internalizing problems. CONCLUSION: The findings confirm SCT as a correlate of inattention and support its construct validity as separate from comorbid internalizing problems. Further research on the clinical utility of SCT is needed.
Subject(s)
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/physiopathology , Hypokinesia/physiopathology , Adolescent , Anxiety/epidemiology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/classification , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/epidemiology , Child , Comorbidity , Depression/epidemiology , Female , Humans , Hypokinesia/classification , Hypokinesia/epidemiology , Internal-External Control , Male , Parents , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , SyndromeABSTRACT
The present study examined Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) in relation to ADHD symptoms, clinical diagnosis, and multiple aspects of adjustment in a clinical sample. Parent and teacher reports were gathered for 322 children and adolescents evaluated for behavioral, emotional, and/or learning problems at a university clinic. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported the presence of three separate, but correlated factors (SCT, inattention, and hyperactivity/impulsivity) in both parent and teacher ratings. As expected, SCT symptoms were greatest in youth with ADHD Inattentive type, but were also found in non-ADHD clinical groups. SCT symptoms were related to inattention, internalizing, and social problems across both parent and teacher informants; for parent reports, SCT was also related to more externalizing problems. Findings support the statistical validity of the SCT construct, but its clinical utility is still unclear.
