Although these studies provide some evidence for a link between particular externalizing disorders and executive functions, they did not examine how the more general concept of behavioral disinhibition relates to executive functions, especially deficits in the ability to inhibit prepotent (i.e., dominant or automatic) responses. Thus, the second question we addressed in this study was as follows: Can we empirically demonstrate that the covariance among adolescent externalizing disorders and novelty seeking is explained, in part, by deficits in an underlying cognitive process, namely, response inhibition? In other words, is behavioral disinhibition really a problem with inhibition?
