Psychiatry Journal

Research Article

Executive Functions and Adaptive Behaviour in Autism Spectrum Disorders with and without Intellectual Disability

Table 2

Means, SD, and statistically significant differences ( test; Bonferroni correction: ; Cohen’s test) obtained from ASD and no-ASD groups in planning, response inhibition, and generativity.


	ASD Mean (SD)	No-ASD Mean (SD)		Bonferroni adjusted value	Cohen’s

	Planning: ToL
Total ASD/no-ASD	4.3 (2.1)	6.6 (1.9)	<.001	<.008	−1.15
HF-ASD/TD	4.63 (2.02)	8 (1.73)	.003	.024	−1.79
ASD-BIF/BIF	4.5 (2.2)	7.33 (1.5)	.003	.024	−1.5
ASD-MID/MID	3 (1.69)	5 (1.08)	.004	.032	−1.41

	Planning: Clock drawing test
Total ASD/no-ASD	3.3 (3.7)	6.2 (3.4)	.002	.016	−0.82
HF-ASD/TD	5.14 (4.36)	7.83 (2.42)	ns	ns	−0.76
ASD-BIF/BIF	4.6 (2.79)	5.96 (3.73)	ns	ns	−0.41
ASD-MID/MID	1.18 (1.69)	5.46 (3.42)	.005	.04	−1.55

	Response inhibition: /sec Stroop word-colours
Total ASD/no-ASD	89.8 (45.79)	90.7 (39.94)	.018	ns	−0.02
HF-ASD/TD	74.5 (20.83)	66.29 (10.21)	ns	ns	0.5
ASD-BIF/BIF	81 (32.37)	89.83 (45.45)	ns	ns	−0.22
ASD-MID/MID	146.6 (46.34)	107.18 (39.68)	ns	ns	0.91

	Response inhibition: errors Stroop word-colours
Total ASD/no-ASD	4.85 (4.31)	3.41 (2.41)	ns	ns	0.41
HF-ASD/TD	3.33 (2.55)	1.71 (1.7)	ns	ns	0.75
ASD-BIF/BIF	4.5 (1.52)	3.42 (2.43)	ns	ns	0.53
ASD-MID/MID	9.4 (5.86)	5.09 (1.51)	.02	ns	1.01

	Response inhibition: Go-no-Go
Total ASD/no-ASD	1.93 (1.07)	2.32 (0.98)	ns	ns	−0.38
HF-ASD/TD	2.38 (1.03)	2.78 (0.44)	ns	ns	−0.5
ASD-BIF/BIF	1.5 (0.93)	2.58 (0.51)	.003	.024	−1.44
ASD-MID/MID	1.75 (1.16)	1.77 (1.3)	ns	ns	−0.016

	Generativity: category fluency
Total ASD/no-ASD	22.15 (18.97)	33.53 (11.83)	.006	.048	−0.72
HF-ASD/TD	34.5 (20.33)	43.11 (18.82)	ns	ns	−0.43
ASD-BIF/BIF	19.88 (14.62)	34.67 (10.08)	.015	ns	−1.18
ASD-MID/MID	7.63 (7.13)	25.85 (6.91)	<.001	<.008	−2.59

	Generativity: phonemic fluency
Total ASD/no-ASD	13.22 (19.64)	14.5 (8.37)	ns	ns	−0.08
HF-ASD/TD	16.55 (12.12)	21.56 (10.19)	ns	ns	−0.44
ASD-BIF/BIF	8.38 (7.74)	15.75 (4.75)	.016	ns	−1.14
ASD-MID/MID	2.63 (3.66)	8.46 (4.96)	.01	ns	−1.34

ASD: autism spectrum disorders; HF: high functioning; BIF: borderline intellectual functioning; MID: mild intellectual disability; TD: typical development; ns: no significance.