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Factor Structure of the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire in Children with Williams Syndrome

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Abstract

To examine the factor structure of temperament in 5–10-year-olds with Williams syndrome, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the responses of parents of 192 children on the children’s behavior questionnaire. Four factors were identified. Two corresponded to factors reported for typically developing children: effortful control and extraversion/surgency and two corresponded to the temperament constructs of withdrawal/inhibition and irritability/frustration and activity, observed in typically developing infants. Parents of 109 of the 192 participants also completed the anxiety disorders interview schedule, parent version. Children with an anxiety disorder other than specific phobia differed significantly from children without an anxiety disorder on all factors except extraversion/surgency. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differed significantly from children without ADHD on effortful control and extraversion/surgency.

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Notes

  1. When we conducted a principal component analysis using the same data, there was almost no difference in the resultant factor solution, as expected (Costello and Osborne 2005).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants R37 HD29957 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and R01 NS35102 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. We are grateful to the participants and their families for their commitment to our research. We thank the members of the Neurodevelopmental Sciences Laboratory who administered the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule-Parent version and the Kaufman Brief-Intelligence Test to the participants

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  1. Angela E. John

    Present address: MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Ovsanna Leyfer

  2. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Angela E. John, Janet Woodruff-Borden & Carolyn B. Mervis

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  1. Ovsanna Leyfer
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  2. Angela E. John
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Correspondence to Ovsanna Leyfer.

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Leyfer, O., John, A.E., Woodruff-Borden, J. et al. Factor Structure of the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire in Children with Williams Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 2346–2353 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1482-3

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