The Self-Awareness of Adolescents with FASD: A Secondary Analysis Study

Abstract

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) describes a range of cognitive, behavioural, and social difficulties that can occur due to prenatal alcohol exposure. It is estimated that 1% to 4% of Canadians are affected by FASD. Individuals with FASD frequently demonstrate difficulties in their executive functions (EF), which are high-level cognitive processes required in goal-directed behaviours, such as working memory, inhibition, and attention shifting. EF is related to self-regulation, which is the ability to regulate their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Individuals with FASD frequently demonstrate difficulties related to self-regulation, which may be a hallmark of the disorder. An important first step in the regulatory process is taking note of one's internal states to regulate one's behaviours, referred to as self-awareness. To date, no researchers explored the self-awareness of individuals with FASD. This study explored the self-awareness of 27 adolescents with FASD who had completed a clinical intervention study. Difference scores were calculated to compare adolescent self-ratings of their internal arousal states with similar ratings from the interventionists trained to evaluate participants’ arousal states. Repeated measures ANOVAs of the difference scores were not statistically significant. There was a significant interaction effect between participants’ sex and difference scores (F(2,36) = 6.171, p=0.05). Correlations between participants’ and interventionists’ ratings were significant at all time points (p=0.01). These findings indicate that the online awareness of adolescents with FASD was consistent. Further study is needed to explore individuals' online awareness within FASD populations and examine whether online awareness is a potential area of strength for adolescents with FASD.