Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Dev Psychopathol. 2022 Feb;34(1):409-419. doi: 10.1017/S095457942000139X. Epub 2020 Oct 19.
Social cognitive deficits can have many negative consequences, spanning social withdrawal to psychopathology. Prior work has shown that child maltreatment may associate with poorer social cognitive skills in later life. However, no studies have examined this association from early childhood into adolescence. Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC; n = 4,438), we examined the association between maltreatment (caregiver physical or emotional abuse; sexual or physical abuse), assessed repeatedly (every 1-3 years) from birth to age 9, and social cognitive skills at ages 7.5, 10.5, and 14 years. We evaluated the role of both the developmental timing (defined by age at exposure) and accumulation of maltreatment (defined as the number of occasions exposed) using a least angle regression variable selection procedure, followed by structural equation modeling. Among females, accumulation of maltreatment explained the most variation in social cognitive skills. For males, no significant associations were found. These findings underscore the importance of early intervention to minimize the accumulation of maltreatment and showcase the importance of prospective studies to understand the development of social cognition over time.
社会认知缺陷可能会产生许多负面影响，从社交退缩到精神病理学等方面都有涉及。先前的研究表明，儿童期虐待可能与成年后较差的社会认知技能有关。然而，目前还没有研究从儿童早期到青少年时期来探讨这种关联。本研究使用了来自阿冯纵向研究父母和儿童（ALSPAC；n=4438）的数据，我们检验了从出生到 9 岁期间反复评估的虐待（照顾者身体或情感虐待；性或身体虐待）与 7.5 岁、10.5 岁和 14 岁时的社会认知技能之间的关联。我们使用最小角回归变量选择程序以及结构方程模型，评估了暴露的发展时机（由暴露年龄定义）和虐待积累（由暴露次数定义）的作用。在女性中，虐待的积累解释了社会认知技能变化的最大差异。对于男性，未发现显著关联。这些发现强调了早期干预以最小化虐待积累的重要性，并展示了前瞻性研究对于理解随时间发展的社会认知的重要性。
