| This study aimed to assess the Boston Qualitative Scoring System (BQSS; Stern et al., 1999) as a measure of executive functioning with a pediatric clinical sample (N = 157), replicating an earlier study with adult patients (Somerville, Tremont, & Stern, 2000). Male and female participants, representing diverse diagnostic categories, were examined across three age groups. Correlational analyses (to examine the convergent/divergent validity of the BQSS) revealed that median correlational coefficients were low across age groups. Relatively high correlations were not found between BQSS selected scores and convergent tasks, and low correlation coefficients were found between BQSS selected scores and divergent measures but consistent with an overall pattern of small correlations in this study. Further, there were only a few significant individual correlations between selected BQSS scores and convergent measures. When examining differences among age groups and levels of executive impairment (as defined by convergent-task performance), two-way ANOVAs revealed non-significant interactions (age by executive status) and non-significant main effects of executive impairment. There were significant main effects of age, however, for several BQSS variables and the original 36-point global score. Overall, these results did not replicate the Somerville et al. findings, although age differences were examined relative to past BQSS research with children. |
