Sluggish cognitive tempo in adults: psychometric validation of the Adult Concentration Inventory
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(see record 2017-30273-001). In the article, the Table 1 item content was incorrectly ordered. The table, as well as text referencing Table 1 in the Results and Discussion, have been corrected in all versions of this article.] As interest in sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) increases, a primary limitation for the field is the lack of a unified set of symptoms for assessing SCT. No existing SCT measure includes all items identified in a recent meta-analysis as optimal for distinguishing between SCT and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) inattention. This study evaluates a new self-report measure for assessing SCT in adulthood, the Adult Concentration Inventory (ACI), which was developed in response to the meta-analytic findings for assessing SCT. Using a large, multiuniversity sample (N = 3,172), we evaluated the convergent and discriminant validity and reliability of the ACI. We also evaluated the ACI measure of SCT in relation to self-reported demographic characteristics, daily life executive functioning, socioemotional adjustment (i.e., anxiety/depression, loneliness, emotion dysregulation, self-esteem), and functional impairment. Exploratory confirmatory factor analyses resulted in 10 ACI items demonstrating strong convergent and discriminant validity from both anxiety/depressive and ADHD inattentive symptom dimensions. SCT was moderately to-strongly correlated with daily life EF deficits, poorer socioemotional adjustment, and greater global functional impairment. Moreover, SCT remained uniquely associated in structural regression analyses with most of these external criterion domains above and beyond ADHD. Finally, when internalizing symptoms were also covaried, SCT, but not ADHD inattention, remained significantly associated with poorer socioemotional adjustment. These findings support the use of the ACI in future studies examining SCT in adulthood and make a major contribution in moving the field toward a unified set of SCT items that can be used across studies. (PsycINFO Database Record
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In adults, primarily college students, SCT symptoms are associated with increased social withdrawal/isolation and loneliness, lower self-esteem, greater emotion dysregulation, suicide risk, and poorer sleep quality.
“Studies of adults, primarily conducted in college students, have also found SCT symptoms to be associated with increased social withdrawal/isolation and loneliness, lower self-esteem, greater emotion dysregulation, suicide risk, and poorer sleep quality (Barkley, 2012; Becker, Burns, et al., 2018; Becker, Holdaway, et al., 2018; Becker, Luebbe, et al., 2014; Flannery, Becker, et al., 2016; Jarrett”
From Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Personality: Links to BIS/BAS Sensitivity and the Five Factor Model (2018) · cites this paper as Becker, Burns, et al., 2018
The Results (Unique Effects of SCT on Adjustment Domains; page unavailable) link SCT symptoms in college students to greater loneliness and emotion dysregulation and lower self-esteem. The Discussion (External Validity of the ACI; page unavailable) attributes withdrawal/isolation and suicide risk findings to studies of youth, not adults. Our copy does not report an association with poorer sleep quality. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSCT symptoms are associated with increased anxiety/depressive symptoms in adults.
“Rather, SCT is more strongly associated with internalizing symptoms than with externalizing behaviors (Becker et al., 2016), and SCT symptoms are associated with increased anxiety/depressive symptoms in adults (Becker, Burns, et al., 2018; Becker, Langberg, et al., 2014; Kamradt et al., 2017; Leikauf & Solanto, 2017; Wood, Lewandowski, et al., 2017).”
From Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Personality: Links to BIS/BAS Sensitivity and the Five Factor Model (2018) · cites this paper as Becker, Burns, et al., 2018
There is tentative evidence suggesting that SCT may be best conceptualized within the internalizing domain of psychopathology.
“In particular, there is tentative evidence suggesting that SCT may be best conceptualized within the internalizing domain of psychopathology (see Becker & Willcutt, 2018), though it should be noted that no study has directly tested this possibility.”
From Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Personality: Links to BIS/BAS Sensitivity and the Five Factor Model (2018) · cites this paper as Becker & Willcutt, 2018
SCT may be best conceptualized as falling within the internalizing domain of psychopathology rather than the externalizing domain.
“Considered together, these findings support the possibility that SCT may ultimately be best conceptualized as falling within the internalizing domain of psychopathology (Becker & Willcutt, 2018).”
From Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Personality: Links to BIS/BAS Sensitivity and the Five Factor Model (2018) · cites this paper as Becker & Willcutt, 2018
SCT is uniquely associated with parent-reported sleep problems and daytime sleepiness in youth.
“SCT is uniquely associated with parent-reported sleep problems and daytime sleepiness in youth.40,63,86,117–121”
From Report of a Work Group on Sluggish Cognitive Tempo: Key Research Directions and a Consensus Change in Terminology to Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome (2023) · cites this paper as [118]
The Discussion’s Limitations and Future Directions section mentions sleep-problem severity only as a topic for future assessment. Searches for “parent-reported sleep problems” and “daytime sleepiness” found relevant titles in the References, but no passage reporting the claimed unique associations in youth. (LLM, conf=0.75)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
The field appears to be converging on a standard set of SCT symptoms for use across studies.
“Subsequent studies have simultaneously tested these SCT optimal items and it appears that the field is narrowing in on a standard set of SCT symptoms that can be used across studies [11,29,30].”
From Advancing the study of sluggish cognitive tempo via DSM, RDoC, and hierarchical models of psychopathology (2019) · cites this paper as [11]
SCT has been shown to be statistically distinct from depression, anxiety, and daytime sleepiness.
“More recently, SCT has been shown to be statistically distinct from other psychopathology domains including depression, anxiety, and daytime sleepiness [6-11].”
From Advancing the study of sluggish cognitive tempo via DSM, RDoC, and hierarchical models of psychopathology (2019) · cites this paper as [11]
Preliminary findings link SCT to poorer study skills, lower self-esteem, and higher suicide risk.
“Preliminary findings also link SCT to poorer study skills, lowered self-esteem, and increased suicide risk [7,11,14,15].”
From Advancing the study of sluggish cognitive tempo via DSM, RDoC, and hierarchical models of psychopathology (2019) · cites this paper as [11]
In prior studies of adults with ADHD and SCT, SCT was associated with global EF deficits.
“In the few prior studies of adults with ADHD + SCT, SCT was associated with EF deficits in problem-solving and organization (9, 10) and in global EF (1, 2, 9–13).”
From Characteristics of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo among adults with ADHD: objective neurocognitive measures align with self-report of executive function (2023) · cites this paper as [12]
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References 63 · Cited by 96
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- American Psychiatric Association 1994 Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: Fouth Edition 4th Washington, DC American Psychiatric Association
- Asparouhov T Muthén B 2009 Exploratory structural equation modeling Structural Equation Modeling-a Multidisciplinary Journal 16 397 438 10.1080/10705510903008204 PMC2921717 20717486 · DOI
- Barkley RA Murphy KR Fischer M 2008 ADHD in adults: What the science says New York Guilford Press
- Becker SP Barkley RA (in press) Sluggish cognitive tempo Banaschewski T Coghill D Zuddas A Oxford textbook of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Oxford, England Oxford University Press
- Authors
- Becker, S. P., Burns, G. L., Garner, A. A., Jarrett, M. A., Luebbe, A. M., Epstein, J. N., & Willcutt, E. G.
- Affiliations
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
- Washington State University (US)
- Saint Louis University (US)
- University of Alabama (US)
- Miami University (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychological Assessment
- Published
- 2018-03
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 296-310
- ISSN
- 1040-3590 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-134X
- PMC
- PMC5630483
- OpenAlex
- W2605351357
- Semantic Scholar
- 029a6673e13d5c30266ac54a0a63f61de57d7658
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 7.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2017-07-13)
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychological Assessment (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH108603)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Keywords
- sluggish cognitive tempo, self-report measures, psychometric validation, convergent and discriminant validity, reliability statistics, executive function, social-emotional adjustment, anxiety and depression, loneliness, emotional dysregulation, self-esteem, functional disability, adults
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Cognition Disorders, Diagnosis, Differential, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Male, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychometrics, Regression Analysis, Reproducibility of Results, Young Adult, Self Report
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