Social skills are essential to function in our society. The aim of the present study is to improve understanding of i) the bidirectional influence of social cognition and social skills, ii) the...Show moreSocial skills are essential to function in our society. The aim of the present study is to improve understanding of i) the bidirectional influence of social cognition and social skills, ii) the impact of the behavior of parents, influenced by a parent course is, and iii) the effect of gender on the development of social cognition and social skills of children aged four to nine years. In this repeated measures design study, 293 primary school pupils with a mean age of 5 in 2009 and 6 years during the follow up in 2010, have participated. Social cognition and social skills are measured by the Social Cognitive Skills Task and the Social Skills Rating System respectively. Results indicated that i) social cognition appears to be a positive predictor for social skills a year later; ii) girls have further developed social skills and social cognition than boys at age 5. For this reason interventions to stimulate social functioning by a different approach for boys and girls are discussed in this manuscript.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
2017-02-10T00:00:00Z
The current study examined the predictive interrelations between social cognition, executive functioning, social skills, and psychopathology in 4-to-7-year-old typically developing children....Show moreThe current study examined the predictive interrelations between social cognition, executive functioning, social skills, and psychopathology in 4-to-7-year-old typically developing children. Furthermore, the moderating and mediating effects of social skills on the relationships between social cognition, executive functioning and internalizing/externalizing behaviour were examined. The sample consisted of 286 children from regular primary schools in the Netherlands. Both direct and indirect measures of social cognition (Theory of Mind, emotion recognition and social cognitive skills in daily life) and executive functioning (inhibitory control, visual spatial working memory, verbal fluency, planning abilities and EF in daily life) were used in the study. Social skills and psychopathology were measured using parent-rating scales (SSRS and CBCL respectively). Problems in the domain of social cognition and executive functioning, as well as internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems were highly correlated. Also, social skills were highly correlated with psychopathology. Social cognition only predicted internalizing behaviour, whereas executive functioning only appeared to be a unique predictor of externalizing behaviour. Moderation and mediation models demonstrated social skills to be a moderator and partial mediator in the relationship between executive functioning and externalizing behaviour problems. Mediation analyses indicated the relationship between social cognition and externalizing behaviour to be fully mediated by executive functioning. The results of this study suggest that training social skills may be important for children who show deficits in executive functioning and who are at risk for developing externalizing behaviour problems. Furthermore, the mediating role of executive functioning on the relationship between social cognition and externalizing behaviour possibly explains the absence of a moderating/mediating effect of social skills on the relationship between social cognition and externalizing behaviour problems. For more knowledge on precursors of psychopathology, future studies should focus on atypically developing children, should examine the prediction of specific psychiatric disorders, examine the possible differential results from direct and indirect measures and examine the development of the social cognition, executive functions, social skills and psychopathology in middle and late childhood, and during adolescence.Show less
