Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version in Healthy Adults and Application to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

• Published in: Archives of clinical neuropsychology Vol. 28; no. 5; pp. 425 - 434
• Main Authors: Roth, R. M., Lance, C. E., Isquith, P. K., Fischer, A. S., Giancola, P. R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.08.2013
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Executive Function; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Models, Psychological; Neuropsychological Tests; Original Empirical; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Self Report; Techniques and methods; Human; ADHD; Executive function; Questionnaire; Factor analysis; Healthy subject; Neuropsychological test; Psychometrics; Cognition; Self-regulation; Test validation; Confirmatory factor analysis; Adult; Self regulation; Attention disorder with hyperactivity; Neuropsychology; Neuropsychologia
• ISSN: 0887-6177; 1873-5843; 1873-5843
• DOI: 10.1093/arclin/act031

The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version (BRIEF-A) is a questionnaire measure designed to assess executive functioning in everyday life. Analysis of data from the BRIEF-A standardization sample yielded a two-factor solution (labeled Behavioral Regulation and Metacognition). The present investigation employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to evaluate four alternative models of the factor structure of the BRIEF-A self-report form in a sample of 524 healthy young adults. Results indicated that a three-factor model best fits the data: a Metacognition factor, a Behavioral Regulation factor consisting of the Inhibit and Self-Monitor scales, and an Emotional Regulation factor composed of the Emotional Control and Shift scales. The three factors contributed 14%, 19%, and 24% of unique variance to the model, respectively, and a second-order general factor accounted for 41% of variance overall. This three-factor solution is consistent with recent CFAs of the Parent report form of the BRIEF. Furthermore, although the Behavioral Regulation factor score in the two-factor model did not differ between adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and a matched healthy comparison group, greater impairment on the Behavioral Regulation factor but not the Emotional Regulation factor was found using the three-factor model. Together, these findings support the multidimensional nature of executive function and the clinical relevance of a three-factor model of the BRIEF-A.