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Social cognition refers to an individual’s ability to appropriately perceive and understand social information that drives communication and interpersonal relationships with others. Two primary skills involved in social cognition include Theory of Mind (ToM) and Affect Recognition (AR). Social cognition is typically measured in children using structured, neurocognitive tasks, although performance-based measures can also be utilized in order to evaluate a child’s skills in this area. Previous literature has found that the Rorschach is related to neurocognitive functioning in children and adults. This literature has not specifically focused on social cognitive abilities and is under-investigated in children. Therefore, the present study aims to further investigate the relationship between the NEPSY-II (ToM and AR subtests) and Rorschach in measuring social cognition among a sample of children in an inpatient setting through the use of archival psychological assessment data. A series of Spearman’s rank-ordered correlational analyses examining the relationship between ToM and AR performance with various Rorschach structural variables included in the IMP, Interpersonal, Affective Processing, and Self-Perception clusters, revealed a significant negative relationship between ToM and PTI, X-%, M-%, Afr, and WSumC, whereas a significant positive relationship was found between ToM and WDA/XA%, DQ+, Mp > Ma, and FD. AR was significantly negatively correlated with X-%, PTI, and a High Afr, whereas AR was significantly positively related to WDA/XA%. Generally, results of the present study suggest that children with increased disinhibition of affect tend to exhibit poorer performance on ToM and AR, whereas children with more affective control and tendencies to engage in fantasy withdrawal display more advanced performance on ToM and AR. Furthermore, children with poor reality testing capabilities are prone to display social cognitive deficits on structured ToM and AR tasks.

BACKGROUND: There is no study to date that has examined the association between history of abuse and adaptive functioning deficits in youth with co-occurring and psychotic disorders or mood disorders. METHOD: This study used a retrospective chart review of 98 youth under the age of 18 (Mean age = 16.06 years) with co-occurring intellectual impairment (Mean IQ = 63.9) and psychotic disorders, mood disorders, or other psychiatric disorders. Using multi-mediation models in the path analytic framework, this study examined the relationships between psychiatric diagnosis (based on DSM-IV criteria), cognitive functioning (Full Scale IQ Scores), adaptive functioning (Socialization, Communication, Motor Skills, Daily Living Skills), and the presence of the history of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse/neglect. RESULTS: A very high incidence of all three forms of abuse was present in the study sample, with more than three-quarters of the youth having experienced at least one form of abuse and more than half having experienced two or the three forms of abuse. A history of sexual abuse was significantly and directly associated with an increased incidence of mood disorders. Mood disorders were the strongest predictors of adaptive functioning deficits. Youth with schizophrenia spectrum disorder scored significantly lower in communication skills than those with bipolar disorder. CONCLUSION: Results are discussed in terms of the need for treatment studies and further investigations of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adaptive functioning in youth with intellectual impairment and psychiatric disorders.