Osório Ana A C, Rossi Natália F, Gonçalves Óscar F, Sampaio Adriana, Giacheti Célia M
a Center for Biological and Health Sciences , Mackenzie Presbyterian University , São Paulo , Brazil.
b CIPsi-School of Psychology , University of Minho , Braga , Portugal.
Child Neuropsychol. 2017 Aug;23(6):631-641. doi: 10.1080/09297049.2016.1183607. Epub 2016 May 25.
Several studies have documented the high prevalence of psychopathology and behavior problems in Williams syndrome (WS). However, the links between cognitive development and such symptoms need further clarification. Our study aims to expand current knowledge on levels of behavior problems and its links to cognition in a sample of Brazilian individuals with WS. A total of 25 children and adolescents with WS and their parents participated in this study. The participants' IQs were assessed with the Wechsler Scales of Intelligence (for children or adults) and parental reports of psychopathology/behavior problems were collected using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The presence of clinically significant attention problems was a main feature in our sample of children and adolescents with WS. In the children, higher IQ scores were found to be significantly associated with less externalizing problems, while in the adolescents cognitive abilities were found to be associated with less internalizing symptoms. These results provide further insight into the links between psychopathology and behavior problems and cognitive abilities in WS, and suggest the need to take age into consideration when analyzing such relationships.
多项研究记录了威廉姆斯综合征（WS）中心理病理学和行为问题的高患病率。然而，认知发展与这些症状之间的联系需要进一步阐明。我们的研究旨在扩展当前关于巴西WS个体样本中行为问题水平及其与认知的联系的知识。共有25名患有WS的儿童和青少年及其父母参与了这项研究。使用韦氏智力量表（针对儿童或成人）评估参与者的智商，并使用儿童行为检查表（CBCL）收集父母关于心理病理学/行为问题的报告。临床上显著的注意力问题是我们患有WS的儿童和青少年样本中的一个主要特征。在儿童中，较高的智商得分与较少的外化问题显著相关，而在青少年中，认知能力与较少的内化症状相关。这些结果进一步深入了解了WS中心理病理学和行为问题与认知能力之间的联系，并表明在分析此类关系时需要考虑年龄因素。
