Internalising symptoms in Developmental Coordination Disorder: The indirect effect of everyday executive function - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Feb:109:103831.
doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103831. Epub 2020 Dec 25.

Internalising symptoms in Developmental Coordination Disorder: The indirect effect of everyday executive function

Serif Omer  1 , Hayley C Leonard  2
Affiliations

Internalising symptoms in Developmental Coordination Disorder: The indirect effect of everyday executive function

Serif Omer et al. Res Dev Disabil. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Individuals with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) report elevated executive function (EF) difficulties and internalising symptoms. Previous research suggests EF is important for wellbeing, yet no research has examined its role in internalising symptoms in DCD.

Aims: To explore an indirect relationship between DCD and internalising symptoms, through everyday EF difficulties.

Method and procedures: Thirty-two children with a DCD diagnosis and 51 typically-developing children (ages 8-15) participated. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to collect parent-reported EF and self-reported internalising symptoms.

Outcomes and results: Internalising symptoms and everyday EF difficulties were significantly higher in the DCD group. A bias-corrected, bootstrapped mediation analysis identified an indirect effect of everyday EF difficulties on the relationship between DCD diagnosis and internalising symptoms.

Conclusions and implications: This supports previous research indicating that individuals with DCD experience greater levels of internalising symptoms and EF difficulties than peers. It is the first to suggest an indirect effect of everyday EF difficulties in the pathway between DCD and internalising symptoms. This highlights hypotheses for future research into the role of EFs in understanding mental health in DCD. It suggests benefits from increased awareness, routine screening, and intervention for mental health and EF in people with poor motor skills.

Keywords: Developmental Coordination Disorder; Dyspraxia; Executive function; Internalising symptom; Mental health; Motor development.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources