The Childhood Executive Function Inventory (CHEXI): Confirmatory Factor Analyses and Cross-Cultural Clinical Validity in a Sample of 8- to 11-Year-Old Children

The Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI) is a new rating instrument for executive functioning developed by Thorell and Nyberg (2008). Through exploratory factor analyses, this inventory has been shown to tap into working memory and inhibition-related behaviors in young children. In this study, we present the psychometric characteristics of the French adaptation of the CHEXI in 8- to 11-year-old children. In addition, we explore the cross-cultural validity of the CHEXI in discriminating between children with ADHD and normally developing children in two culturally different samples (Belgian and Swedish). Confirmatory factor analyses replicated the two-factor solution, referred to as inhibition and working memory, that was identified in the original study with Swedish children. Supplementary analyses indicated that both subscales have good psychometric properties. From a clinical point of view, the CHEXI was found to discriminate, with high sensitivity and specificity, between children with ADHD and normally developing controls in both cultural samples. Cross-cultural clinical implications are discussed.