Social Behavioral Moderators of Executive Function Tasks in Fragile X Syndrome

Social Behavioral Moderators of Executive Function Tasks in Fragile X Syndrome Public Deposited

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Abstract

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most commonly inherited form of intellectual disability, and is associated with a myriad of neuropsychological deficits, including executive dysfunction. Psychiatric symptoms have been addressed in the literature with conflicting findings. To date, investigations into the relationship between executive dysfunction and psychiatric functioning are limited, and warrant particular examination in the pediatric population. Here we will investigate measures of mood and anxiety in fifty-four boys with FXS who range in age from 7-13 years (M=10.1; SD=1.7). All boys were diagnosed with full mutation Fragile X on the basis of DNA analyses. It was hypothesized that the presence of severe behavior problems (Internalizing, Externalizing, Total Score on the CBCL) and presence of psychiatric diagnoses, could moderate the effects on selected executive functions in boys with FXS. It was expected ANOVAs with Internalizing, Externalizing, Total Score (dichotomized by one SD unit) and CBCL diagnosis would interact with executive functioning to produce more impaired performance for boys with FXS. No relationships were found between internalizing problems, specific DSM-oriented diagnoses, or the aggregate number of diagnoses endorsed on the CBCL and executive functioning in boys with FXS. These findings suggest that psychiatric symptoms and disorders, variously defined, do not affect EF performance in boys with FXS to a greater degree than in age-matched typicals.

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