Long-term reliability and stability of behavioral measures among adolescents: The Delay Discounting and Stroop tasks

Víctor Martínez-Loredo; José Ramón Fernández-Hermida; José Luis Carballo; Sergio Fernández-Artamendi

doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.05.003

Long-term reliability and stability of behavioral measures among adolescents: The Delay Discounting and Stroop tasks

J Adolesc. 2017 Jul:58:33-39. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.05.003. Epub 2017 May 8.

Authors

Víctor Martínez-Loredo¹, José Ramón Fernández-Hermida², José Luis Carballo³, Sergio Fernández-Artamendi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Addictive Behaviors Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Spain. Electronic address: martinezlvictor@uniovi.es.
² Addictive Behaviors Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Spain.
³ Department of Psychology, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Spain.
⁴ Addictive Behaviors Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Spain; Department of Psychology, Universidad Loyola Andalucia, Spain.

PMID: 28494412
DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.05.003

Abstract

Delay Discounting (DD) and the Stroop test are two fundamental tasks for the assessment of impulsivity and inhibitory control, core features of several behavioral disorders. Although the study of reliability and temporal stability is important, only studies with adults and small samples have been carried out. The aim of this study is to assess the one-year reliability and temporal stability of both tasks among adolescents. A total of 1375 adolescents (M = 13.08 years old, SD = 0.51) made up the final sample (53.5% males). The results showed moderate stability and good reliability for both DD (α = 0.90) and Stroop (α = 0.85). Indices based on the reaction times and not the number of errors are recommended when using the Stroop test. These results support the use of both behavioral tasks in longitudinal research among adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescents; Delay Discounting; Impulsivity; Stroop test; Temporal stability.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Choice Behavior*
Delay Discounting*
Female
Humans
Impulsive Behavior*
Male
Mental Disorders / psychology
Reproducibility of Results
Stroop Test*