Could Social Cognition Training Reduce Externalizing Behaviors and Social Maladjustment in Preschoolers?

Background: Recently, a social cognition training model has been developed and showed significant improvements on social cognition, social adjustment and externalizing behaviors in typically developing preschoolers. Objectives: Such model has been replicated in the current study in preschoolers with externalizing behaviors to test whether deficits in social cognition could cause deficits in social adjustment and externalizing behaviors in preschoolers. The effects of training in social information processing and Theory of Mind on social cognition, on emotion regulation, on social adjustment and on externalizing behaviors were examined. Methodology: After a pre-test, 37 children with externalizing behaviors were allocated either to an experimental group, which received 15 sessions of social cognition training in groups of 3-4 children, or to a control group. Results and conclusion: Through regression analyses, the Theory of Mind indirect, social information processing, emotion regulation and social adjustment measures were significantly predicted by group condition. The hypothesis that difficulties in social adjustment can be caused by deficits in social cognition is discussed. *Corresponding author: Marine Houssa, Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier, 10, 1348 Louvainla-Neuve, Belgium, Tel: 0032-10.47.46.88; E-mail: [email protected] Received January 28, 2016; Accepted February 22, 2016; Published February 29, 2016 Citation: Houssa M, Nader-Grosbois N (2016) Could Social Cognition Training Reduce Externalizing Behaviors and Social Maladjustment in Preschoolers? J Psychol Abnorm S1: 005. doi:10.4172/jpab.S1-005 Copyright: © 2016 Houssa M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.