Executive function assessment: Adaptation of the Amsterdam executive function inventory using Spanish first-year university students from two knowledge areas

OBJECTIVE: Many university students have difficulties in adapting to autonomous learning due to executive functioning deficits. In the Spanish university context, there is a lack of reliable validated instruments for the evaluation of executive functioning. In this sense, the aim of this research is to present the process of adaptation and validation of the Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory (AEFI) for the evaluation of executive functioning in the Spanish context. METHODS: This study integrates two sequential processes: questionnaire translation and back-translation, and evaluation of the psychometric properties (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted), reliability, validity and multigroup analysis to identify factorial invariance. An online questionnaire was used for data collection and R package lavaan software was administered to a sample of 519 first-year university students (270 females and 249 males). RESULTS: The exploratory factor analysis evidenced an interna structure of three factors with adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha higher than 0.70), endorsed in the confirmatory factor analysis that indicated an adequate goodness-of-fit-indexes for the model. The composite reliability showed values between 0.74 and 0.82, and the convergent (average variance extracted values ranged from 0.50 to 0.61) and discriminant validity were adequate. A multigroup-analysis showed the invariance factorial through the difference in the RMSEA, CFI and TLI index, performed both in the model comparison according to gender and academic disciplines. CONCLUSION: The AEFI adapted for Spanish has practical implications for the management of university students, as it can facilitate the improvement of university policies designed to foster the development of executive functions, specifically in first-year students.