Conversational fluency and executive function in adolescents with conduct disorder

Area of Science:

• Adolescent Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Communication Sciences

Background:

• Executive function (EF) impairments are common in adolescents with conduct disorder (CD).
• The impact of EF on communication abilities in this population is not fully understood.
• Extemporaneous conversation is a crucial social development task highly dependent on EF.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between clinical executive function questionnaire scores and communication task performance in adolescents.
• To assess communication differences in incarcerated adolescents with and without conduct disorder compared to typically developing peers.

Main Methods:

• Study included 18 incarcerated adolescents with conduct disorder (I-CD), 12 incarcerated adolescents without CD (I-NCD), and 26 typically developing (TD) adolescents.
• Participants completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) Self-Report form.
• Performance was assessed through extemporaneous conversation tasks.

Main Results:

• Incarcerated groups (I-CD and I-NCD) exhibited four times more conversational dysfluencies than the TD group.
• Significant group differences were found in executive memory BRIEF subscores (TD vs. I-CD).
• Fluency data correlated with executive memory BRIEF scores; combined data explained 65% of variance in differentiating incarcerated from non-incarcerated adolescents.

Conclusions:

• Executive function (EF) measures, like BRIEF scores, correlate with communication task performance relevant to daily life.
• Incarcerated juveniles demonstrated notably high rates of dysfluency.
• EF and conversation measures effectively distinguished incarcerated from non-incarcerated juveniles, though less sensitive to CD diagnosis.