Social information-processing patterns of maltreated children in two social domains

This study examined relations among social information-processing (SIP) variables in the domains of peer provocation and peer group entry. Using Crick and Dodge's [Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 74–101] model, SIP variables were examined within and across domain to determine whether processing patterns varied with type of social situation. The ethnically varied sample included 188 (49% male) maltreated children (M age = 6.5 years) who had either been neglected or neglected and physically-abused in early elementary school. Factor analyses indicated that the variables representing attribution and evaluation steps of processing were domain-specific, whereas encoding, problem-solving, and enactment were not. In the provocation domain, children who had experienced physical abuse in addition to neglect displayed more hostile attributions and aggressive responses, and fewer competent responses relative to neglected children and nonmaltreated comparison children. In peer group entry, the children in the neglect-only group displayed more processing deficits, generating more aggressive responses than the comparison children.