Social functioning in very preterm children: relationship with underlying cognitive skills, risk factors and early intervention

© 2013 Dr. Anastasiya SuetinThe past two decades have been marked by a significant increase in the survival rate of extremely preterm infants. There is nevertheless evidence that up to 50% of these children will experience disabilities, some of which may have lifelong consequences for everyday functioning. Amongst the deficits related to prematurity are difficulties in social functioning. In view of the emerging findings in the area of social cognitive neuroscience, Yeates, Bigler, Dennis et al. (2007) have proposed a model that depicts a relationship between social functioning, language development, executive functioning and social problem solving capacity. The model also acknowledges the influence of brain injury related, biological and environmental risk/resilience factors upon social information processing and social outcomes. In view of the compelling research findings suggesting the existence of prematurity-related executive function and language deficits, the present study applied the Yeates et al.'s (2007) model to preschool children born very preterm. The sample comprised of 105 very preterm children (mean age = 4 years, 4 months; SD=3 months; 58% males) and 41 full term children (mean age= 4 years, 6 months; SD=3 months; 49% males). The groups were recruited from the same Victorian Local Government areas. When compared with children born full term, preterm children demonstrated poorer outcomes within the social functioning domains of social skill development and maladaptive behaviours but not within the peer acceptance domain. The results of the current study point to important associations between executive functioning, language and specific social functioning domains, partially supporting and expanding the Yeates et al. (2007) model. The relationships between social functioning domains and risk/resilience factors were also established. Female gender was predictive of better social skills while higher maternal education was related to fewer maladaptive behaviour problems. Less severe white matter abnormality was associated with better outcomes within all social functioning domains. The study also explored the influence of early intervention upon social development but no significant effect was observed