Social Outcomes in Childhood Brain Disorder: A Heuristic Integration of Social Neuroscience and Developmental Psychology

• Published in: Psychological bulletin 2007-05, Vol.133 (3), p.535-556
• Main Authors: Yeates, Keith Owen, Bigler, Erin D, Dennis, Maureen, Gerhardt, Cynthia A, Rubin, Kenneth H, Stancin, Terry, Taylor, H. Gerry, Vannatta, Kathryn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Development; Affective Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain diseases; Brain Disorders; Brain injured children; Brain Injuries - complications; Brain Injuries - psychology; Brain research; Child; Child clinical studies; Child Development; Child psychology; Child, Preschool; Children; Cognition & reasoning; Developmental Psychology; Head Injuries; Heuristic; Heuristics; Human; Humans; Infant; Injuries of the nervous system and the skull. Diseases due to physical agents; Interaction; Interpersonal Communication; Interpersonal Competence; Medical sciences; Models, Psychological; Neurological Impairments; Neuropsychology; Neurosciences; Neurosciences - methods; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Peer Relationship; Problem Solving; Psychology, Adolescent - methods; Psychology, Child - methods; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychosocial Development; Social Adjustment; Social Behavior; Social Cognition; Social cognitive neuroscience; Social competence; Social Development; Social Neuroscience; Social psychology; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; Traumatic Brain Injury
• ISSN: 0033-2909; 1939-1455
• DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.133.3.535

The authors propose a heuristic model of the social outcomes of childhood brain disorder that draws on models and methods from both the emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience and the study of social competence in developmental psychology/psychopathology. The heuristic model characterizes the relationships between social adjustment, peer interactions and relationships, social problem solving and communication, social-affective and cognitive-executive processes, and their neural substrates. The model is illustrated by research on a specific form of childhood brain disorder, traumatic brain injury. The heuristic model may promote research regarding the neural and cognitive-affective substrates of children's social development. It also may engender more precise methods of measuring impairments and disabilities in children with brain disorder and suggest ways to promote their social adaptation.