Citation

Price JM, Landsverk J. Child Abuse Negl. 1998; 22(9): 845-858.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, CA 92120, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9777255

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this investigation was to determine if social information-processing patterns were predictive of later social adaptation and behavior problems within a group of maltreated children in foster care. METHOD: A longitudinal design was used to address the study hypotheses. The sample consisted of 124 maltreated children ages 5 to 10 who had been placed into foster care. Twelve months following entrance into foster care, children were presented with age-relevant hypothetical vignettes to assess the quality of the way in which they process social information. Six to 8 months following this assessment, caregivers completed the Vineland Adaptive Scales and the Child Behavior Checklist. RESULTS: Measures reflecting unbiased and competent processing were predictive of social adaptation, whereas measures reflecting biased and incompetent processing were predictive of behavior problems. In aggregate, processing measures accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in the outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the manner in which maltreated children process social information has a bearing on their later social adaptation and behavioral adjustment. Therefore, maltreated children in foster care may benefit from interventions that target the manner in which they process social information.

Language: en