Normative Executive Function Development Reveals Age-Varying Mental Health Associations in Youth
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IMPORTANCE
Executive function (EF) is crucial for adolescent development and mental health. However, population-level benchmarks of EF growth and their relevance to psychiatric symptoms remain unclear, especially for non-Western populations.
OBJECTIVE
To establish normative developmental charts of EF across adolescence and examine how deviations from these norms relate to mental health symptoms in an age-specific manner.
DESIGN
Primary data were drawn from the baseline data of the ongoing Adolescent Health Enhancing Long-term Plan (A-HELP) study (2022-2027), with replication from three waves of longitudinal data (2016-2022) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.
SETTING
Population-based studies conducted in China (A-HELP).
PARTICIPANTS
The A-HELP sample included 33,622 Chinese adolescents (11.00-18.00 years; 16,558 males) who completed EF tasks and mental health assessments. Normative developmental charts were constructed using generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape, from which individual EF deviation scores were derived. Associations with mental health were examined using generalized additive models, including age-varying interaction analyses. Replication were performed in 11,549 U.S. adolescents (8.92-15.75 years; 6,010 males) from the ABCD study.
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Three EF tasks were assessed: Go/No-Go (inhibitory control), 1-back and 2-back (working memory). Mental health symptoms were measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, including emotional symptoms, conduct problems, peer problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and prosocial behavior.
RESULTS
Adolescents completed Go/No-Go (N=17,021), 1-back (N=15,945), and 2-back (N=10,167) tasks. All tasks showed significant age-related improvement and decreasing inter-individual variability. Higher EF deviation scores, which reflect better performance, were associated with fewer peer and conduct problems, lower hyperactivity/inattention, and greater prosocial behavior. Age-resolved analyses revealed that these associations varied across development, with stronger effect sizes observed in early adolescence that declined by late adolescence. Findings were replicated in 22,831 Flanker task observations from the ABCD study, showing consistent developmental patterns and EF-mental health associations.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
This study establishes normative developmental charts of EF in adolescence and highlights that deviations from these norms are linked to psychiatric symptoms, especially in early adolescence. These findings provide a developmental framework for identifying youth at risk of mental health difficulties, offering culturally generalizable benchmarks for early screening and intervention.
