title: Impact of a social skills intervention on the hostile attributions of children with prenatal alcohol exposure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has been linked to a wide array of developmental deficits, including significant impairments in social skills. Given the extensive body of evidence linking social information-processing patterns with social behavior, it is possible that social information-processing may represent one mechanism of behavioral change. The present investigation sought to answer the question of whether a well-established social skills intervention decreased the hostile attributions of children with PAE. Further, was there a differential impact of the intervention on hostile attributions in the context of peer provocation versus group entry scenarios?
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants consisted of 100 children (51% male) with PAE between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Participants were randomly assigned to either a social skills intervention, Children's Friendship Training (CFT), or to a Delayed Treatment Control (DTC) condition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses indicated that the social skills intervention resulted in a significantly lower proportion of hostile attributions in peer group entry, but not peer provocation, scenarios. This decrease was maintained over a 3-month follow-up period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Deficits in social information-processing among individuals with PAE can be improved through social skills intervention, and these changes may lead to more positive developmental outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 92630, USA. vkeil29@gmail.com
authors.forename: Vivien
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: Blair
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paley
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frankel
authors.forename: Mary J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: O'Connor
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000523:psychology*; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D012951:Socialization
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol