Impact of a social skills intervention on the hostile attributions of children with prenatal alcohol exposure.
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.
Keil
Vivien
V
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 92630, USA. vkeil29@gmail.com
Paley
Blair
B
Frankel
Fred
F
O'Connor
Mary J
MJ
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
D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol