Different abilities needed at home and school: The relation between executive function and adaptive behaviour in adolescents with Down syndrome

Camila Sabat, Paulina Arango, Marc J. Tassé, Marcela Tenorio*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Studies have shown that executive function abilities are related and have predictive power over adaptive behaviour in both typical and atypical populations. This study examined the relationship between executive functioning and adaptive behaviour in adolescents with Down syndrome, as it has not been studied before in this population. We propose and test a model of how each core EF (i.e., working memory, inhibition, and flexibility) contributes to each domain of AB (i.e., conceptual, social, and practical). We found that parent reported Conceptual skills were related to working memory, while teacher reported Conceptual and Practical skills were related to inhibition and flexibility. We hypothesise that these findings are related to the different requirements and expectations of the home and school environments: the more predictable home environment requires the adolescent to rely on working memory for his everyday activities, while the changing and challenging school environment requires the inhibition common behaviours and to flexibly change actions to be successful.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1683
JournalScientific Reports
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT), grant number: 11150800.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Different abilities needed at home and school: The relation between executive function and adaptive behaviour in adolescents with Down syndrome'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this