NCJ Number
175124
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 22 Issue: 9 Dated: September 1998 Pages: 845-858
Date Published
1998
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study attempts to determine whether social information-processing patterns are predictive of later social adaptation and behavior problems within a group of maltreated children in foster care.
Abstract
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 after placement, children were presented with age-relevant hypothetical vignettes to assess the quality of the way they processed social information. Six to 8 months following this assessment, caregivers completed the Vineland Adaptive Scales and the Child Behavior Checklist. Measures reflecting unbiased and competent processing were predictive of social adaptation, whereas measures reflecting biased and incompetent processing were predictive of behavior problems. In the aggregate, processing measures accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in the outcome measures. Tables, references