Evaluating Everyday Prospective Memory in School-Age Children through Parent- and Self-Reports: Validating Questionnaires and Examining Relations to Executive Functions and Autistic Traits

Su, Xiao-min; Yang, Tian‐xiao; An, Fu-sen; Yuan, Chen-Wei; Zuber, Sascha; Ren, Qian; Wang, Ya; Chan, Raymond C. · 2025 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.70322/ldmh.2025.10007

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Summary

This study addresses the lack of validated tools for assessing everyday prospective memory (PM) in school-age children and investigates the relationship between PM, executive functions (EF), and autistic traits. While the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) is widely used for adults, its application to children requires validation, particularly regarding parent-reported versus self-reported measures. The research aimed to validate the parent-reported PRMQ for Children (PRMQC-p) and develop a self-reported version (PRMQC-s), then examine how EF mediates the link between autistic traits and PM errors in a large sample. The study involved two phases with 1,127 children aged 6–12 years and their parents. In Study 1, researchers translated and adapted the PRMQC into Chinese, modifying items for cultural relevance and clarity. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on 938 parent-reported and 941 self-reported questionnaires to determine the optimal structural model. Reliability was assessed via Cronbach’s alpha and test-retest correlations. Study 2 utilized a subset of 837 participants to analyze relationships using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient for Children (AQ-Child). Mediation analysis was performed to determine if EF components explained the association between autistic traits and PM performance. Results from Study 1 indicated that the PM-RM correlated factor model best fit both parent- and self-reported versions, demonstrating good reliability (Cronbach’s α ≥ 0.73). Parent and child reports showed moderate correlations (r = 0.40 for PM), which were stronger in older children (10–12 years) than in younger ones (7–9 years), suggesting improved metacognitive awareness with age. No significant sex differences were found in PM scores. Study 2 revealed that higher autistic traits were significantly associated with more frequent PM errors and greater EF difficulties. Crucially, mediation analysis showed that overall EF completely mediated the relationship between autistic traits and PM, accounting for 76.2% of the total effect. The EF component "initiate" demonstrated the strongest mediation effect, explaining 81.5% of the variance, while other components like inhibition, shifting, and working memory provided partial mediation. These findings validate the PRMQC as a reliable tool for evaluating everyday memory in children, with parent reports being more suitable for those under seven. The study highlights that executive functions, particularly initiation, are critical mechanisms linking autistic traits to prospective memory failures. This suggests that children with higher autistic traits may not simply forget tasks but struggle to initiate them due to EF deficits. The results extend previous clinical findings to subclinical populations, implying that interventions targeting executive function, especially initiation, could effectively reduce everyday memory errors in children with autistic traits.

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• prospective memory interruptions