title: Relationship between social competence and neurocognitive performance in children with epilepsy.
abstract: Epilepsy may affect a child's social skills and social cognition. The purpose of the study was to examine associations between sociocognitive skills and neurocognitive performance in children with epilepsy. Thirty-five children with epilepsy between the ages of 7 and 12 years (25 with partial and 10 with generalized epilepsy) and 30 controls participated. Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks, Social Cognition Questionnaire proposed by Saltzman-Benaiah and Lalonde (2007), and Social Skills Rating System were used to assess social competence and sociocognitive skills. Neurocognitive performance was assessed using the NEPSY battery. Children with epilepsy demonstrated more difficulties in understanding false belief (p<.001) and intentional lying (p<.05) and exhibited more behavioral problems (p<.05). Notably, their social skills were at the same level as typically developing peers. Children with epilepsy performed significantly worse in attention, executive, verbal, and fine motor tasks (p<.05). We found positive correlations between the understanding of false belief and in executive (r=.6, p<.05), verbal (r=.45-.49, p<.05), and visuospatial skills (r=.34-.48, p<0.01). Children with generalized epilepsy had more problems in memory tasks (p<.05) and understanding of sarcasm (p<.05) compared with children with partial epilepsy. An age of onset over 9.1 years was positively associated with ToM skills (r=.42, p<.05). In conclusion, better ToM in children with better executive functions, and language and visuospatial skills was revealed. The type of epilepsy and age of onset significantly affected ToM skills.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Randvere School, Tallinn, Estonia.
authors.forename: Triin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Raud
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Institute of Psychology, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia; Psychiatry Clinic, Tallinn Children's Hospital, Tallinn, Estonia.
authors.forename: Mari-Liis
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Kaldoja
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, Children's Clinic, Tartu University Hospital, Tartu, Estonia; Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. Electronic address: anneli.kolk@kliinikum.ee.
authors.forename: Anneli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kolk
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D001288:Attention; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D008192:Deception; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000523:psychology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology*; D004829:Epilepsy, Generalized / Q000523:psychology; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012919:Social Behavior; D066107:Social Skills; D013028:Space Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D056345:Theory of Mind
keywords: Children; Neurocognitive performance; Partial and generalized epilepsies; Social skills; Sociocognitive skills; Theory of mind