TY - JOUR
T1 - Developmental trajectories of social cognition from preschool to adolescence
AU - de la Osa, Núria
AU - Penelo, Eva
AU - Navarro, J. Blas
AU - Trepat, Esther
AU - Ezpeleta, Lourdes
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding was from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICINN/FEDER) [grant PGC2018-095239-B-I00]. We would like to thank the participating schools and families. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/1/25
Y1 - 2021/1/25
N2 - This longitudinal study aims to define the developmental trajectories of social cognition (SC) in a community sample (N = 378) assessed from preschool (3 years old) to preadolescence (12 years old). Parents and teachers reported on a SC measure at ages 5, 10, and 12. We tested the existence of different trajectories and whether they discriminated outcomes in early adolescence. The data were collected from different sources, the children, the parents, and teachers, by means of different methods. Using Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM), we identified three distinct social cognition trajectories: persistently mild difficulties reported by parents and teachers (7.9% of the children), stable low problems reported by parents and increased difficulties reported by teachers (10.5% of the sample), and stable low problems reported by both informants for most of the participants (81.5%). Comparison of the psychological outcomes between classes using regression models showed that the two trajectories including children with any level of problems differ from the normative one as regards their association with psychological problems, daily functioning, and variables, such as aggressive behavior and callousness. The two non-normative trajectories also differ from each other in terms of the personal characteristics of the adolescents included in them. Adolescents in the increasing problematic class in the school have a tougher and more problematic style of social relating, while children with persistent and non-context-dependent difficulties are more anxious. These results might help to better detect and design specific interventions for children with deficits in SC that might respond to different personal characteristics leading to different outcomes.
AB - This longitudinal study aims to define the developmental trajectories of social cognition (SC) in a community sample (N = 378) assessed from preschool (3 years old) to preadolescence (12 years old). Parents and teachers reported on a SC measure at ages 5, 10, and 12. We tested the existence of different trajectories and whether they discriminated outcomes in early adolescence. The data were collected from different sources, the children, the parents, and teachers, by means of different methods. Using Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM), we identified three distinct social cognition trajectories: persistently mild difficulties reported by parents and teachers (7.9% of the children), stable low problems reported by parents and increased difficulties reported by teachers (10.5% of the sample), and stable low problems reported by both informants for most of the participants (81.5%). Comparison of the psychological outcomes between classes using regression models showed that the two trajectories including children with any level of problems differ from the normative one as regards their association with psychological problems, daily functioning, and variables, such as aggressive behavior and callousness. The two non-normative trajectories also differ from each other in terms of the personal characteristics of the adolescents included in them. Adolescents in the increasing problematic class in the school have a tougher and more problematic style of social relating, while children with persistent and non-context-dependent difficulties are more anxious. These results might help to better detect and design specific interventions for children with deficits in SC that might respond to different personal characteristics leading to different outcomes.
KW - Growth mixture modeling
KW - Multi-informant
KW - SCDC
KW - Social cognition
KW - Trajectories
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099950516&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/3f09a101-d172-3123-976d-b79c7f6b0da0/
U2 - 10.1007/s00787-021-01719-4
DO - 10.1007/s00787-021-01719-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 33492481
AN - SCOPUS:85099950516
SN - 1018-8827
JO - European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
JF - European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
ER -