Abstract

The current study examined preschool-aged children's behavioural and cortisol responses to standardized cognitive testing and how these relate to their cognitive scores. Eighty-five Francophone children (45 boys) were administered the French edition of the Stanford-Binet IV (SB IV) and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Revised (EVIP) during two home visits. Two dimensions, Attentiveness/Compliance and Nervous/Anxious, were derived from examiner's ratings to describe behaviour during testing. Salivary cortisol samples were collected prior, during and after the SB IV on the first day of testing from 64 children (34 boys). The two test behaviour factors were highly negatively correlated. Higher Attentiveness/Compliance and lower Nervous/Anxious scores were associated with higher SB IV and EVIP scores. Children who provided salivary samples performed higher on cognitive tests and showed more adaptive behaviour during testing. Path models showed that the initial cortisol sample was related to better Attentiveness/Compliance, which in turn was related to higher SB IV composite scores and higher age. Once Attentiveness/Compliance was controlled for, older children, particularly boys showed lower SB IV scores. Hierarchical regressions showed that higher initial cortisol was related to higher SB IV performance for girls but lower initial cortisol was related to higher SB IV scores for boys. The implications of children's behaviours and cortisol reactivity during testing on validity of obtained cognitive scores are discussed