A-33 Pediatric Intraindividual Variability: Examining Dispersion across Cognitive Domains

Abstract

\n \n \n Intraindividual variability (IIV), defined as variability in performance across different cognitive domains within an individual, has been studied in adults and found to be linked to sex, age, and mean cognitive performance, and associated with developmental disorders (e.g., ADHD), focal disorders, and cognitive decline. In contrast, IIV in children is thought to be related to cognitive development rather than impairment, but has not been well studied with relation to differences across sex, age, diagnoses, or mean cognitive performance.\n \n \n \n Participants included 426 children/young adults (ages 3–25; M\u2009=\u200911.75, SD\u2009=\u20094.01; 62.3% male) referred for neuropsychological evaluation at a hospital-based outpatient clinic. A battery of tests was administered measuring several domains, including intelligence, academics, attention, executive functions, language, memory, visual motor integration, and fine motor skills. Intraindividual standard deviation (ISD) and maximum deviation (MD) were used as measures of IIV.\n \n \n \n Sex was not related to ISD or MD, ts(423)\u2009=\u2009−1.15 – -0.09, ps\u2009=\u20090.251–0.930. Age, measured categorically, was not related to ISD, F(3)\u2009=\u20090.07, p\u2009=\u20090.974, but was related to MD, F(3)\u2009=\u20093.45, p\u2009=\u20090.017 with children age 3–5 having lower MD. ADHD diagnosis was not related to ISD or MD, ts(417)\u2009=\u2009−1.25 – −1.19, ps\u2009=\u20090.211–0.234. An inverse relationship was observed between mean cognitive performance and ISD, F(1)\u2009=\u200936.43, p\u2009<\u20090.001, and MD, F(1)\u2009=\u200925.92, p\u2009<\u20090.001.\n \n \n \n The current study did not replicate differences in IIV based on sex or diagnosis of ADHD in children. However, differences based on age and mean cognitive performance are consistent with previous literature, suggesting that IIV may reflect differences in cognitive development, secondary to both skill and age, in children.\n