Multimethod study of attention and behavior problems in hearing-impaired children

TLDR

Attention is a multidimensional construct whose assessment is complex. The study assessed attention and behavior problems in hearing‑impaired children using multiple measures. Hearing‑impaired and normally hearing 6‑14‑year‑olds completed three CPTs, while parents and teachers rated behavior on the CBCL. Hearing‑impaired children showed significant attention deficits, proactive interference, and elevated externalizing behavior, with strong convergence between CPT performance and CBCL ratings.

Abstract

Abstract Assessed the nature and extent of attention and behavior problems in a sample of hearing-impaired children using multiple measures and observers. Hearing-impaired and normally hearing 6- to 14-year-olds (n = 64) completed three Continuous Performance Tests (CPT; Gordon, 1983) of attention. Parents and teachers of hearing-impaired children also completed ratings of behavior problems on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983). On two of the three attention tasks, hearing-impaired children exhibited significant attention problems. In particular, they had more difficulty than hearing children discriminating the target and inhibiting responses to nontarget information. Analyses of errors on the CPT tasks also suggested that hearing-impaired children may have problems related to proactive interference. Parent ratings on the CBCL indicated that one half of the hearing-impaired children had elevated levels of externalizing behavior problems, whereas teacher ratings indicated that one third had significant behavioral problems. Substantial convergence was found between performance on the CPT tasks and behavior ratings on the CBCL. Issues relevant to the multidimensional nature of the attention construct and its assessment are discussed.