Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome Symptoms from Early Childhood to Adolescence in a Nationally Representative Spanish Sample

G Leonard Burns; Juan José Montaño; Stephen P Becker; Mateu Servera

doi:10.1080/15374416.2023.2272944

Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome Symptoms from Early Childhood to Adolescence in a Nationally Representative Spanish Sample

J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2023 Nov 6:1-15. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2023.2272944. Online ahead of print.

Authors

G Leonard Burns¹, Juan José Montaño², Stephen P Becker³, Mateu Servera⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Washington State University.
² Department of Psychology, University of the Balearic Islands & Health Research Institute of the Balearic Islands.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of the Balearic Islands & Research Institute on Health Sciences.

PMID: 37931059
DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2023.2272944

Abstract

Objective: The identification of a common set of symptoms for assessing cognitive disengagement syndrome (CDS, formerly sluggish cognitive tempo) for early childhood (ages 5-8), middle childhood (ages 9-12), and adolescence (ages 13-16) is needed to advance research on the developmental psychopathology of CDS (i.e. a common symptom set with comparable internal and external validity for each age group).

Method: Parents of a nationally representative sample of 5,525 Spanish children and adolescents (ages 5 to 16, 56.1% boys) completed measures of CDS, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-inattention (ADHD-IN), and other measures.

Results: First, the 15 CDS symptoms showed convergent and discriminant validity relative to the ADHD-IN symptoms within each age group. Second, CDS showed stronger first-order and unique associations than ADHD-IN with anxiety, depression, somatization, daytime sleep-related impairment, and nighttime sleep disturbance, whereas ADHD-IN showed stronger first-order and unique associations than CDS with ADHD-hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder, and academic impairment. Third, CDS showed stronger first-order and unique associations than ADHD-IN with a history of having an anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder diagnosis, whereas ADHD-IN showed stronger first-order and unique associations with having an ADHD diagnosis.

Conclusions: The identification of a common set of CDS symptoms spanning early childhood to adolescence allows for the advancement of research on CDS, with a particular need now for longitudinal studies and examination of CDS with other functional outcomes and across other cultural contexts.