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Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills, Executive Function and Learning Potential in Preadolescents with High/Low Family Risk

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2017

Sara Mata ,
M. Mar Gómez-Pérez ,
Clara Molinero  and
M. Dolores Calero
Sara Mata*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
M. Mar Gómez-Pérez
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
Clara Molinero
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
M. Dolores Calero
Affiliation:
Universidad de Granada (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sara Mata. Personality, Assessment and Treatment Department. Universidad de Granada. Campus Cartuja s/n. 18071. Granada (Spain). Phone: +34–680904650. E-mail: saramata@ugr.es
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Abstract

Situations generated by high family risk have a negative effect on personal development, especially during preadolescence. Growing up in the presence of risk factors can lead to negative consequences on mental health or on school performance. The objective of this study focuses on individual factors related to this phenomenon during preadolescence. Specifically, we seek to establish whether level of family risk (high vs. low risk) is related to interpersonal problem-solving skills, executive function and learning potential in a sample of preadolescents controlling age, sex, total IQ, verbal comprehension ability and the classroom influences. The participants were 40 children, 23 boys and 17 girls between the ages of 7 and 12, twenty of which had a record on file with the Social and Childhood Protection Services of Information deleted to maintain the integrity of the review process, and therefore, a high family risk situation. The other 20 participants had a low family risk situation. Results show that the preadolescents from high family risk performed worse on interpersonal solving-problem skills and executive function (p < .05, b from –119,201.81 to 132,199.43, confidence interval from –162,589.78/–75,813.8 to 84,403.05/179,995.8). Nevertheless, they showed the same ability to learn as the participants from low family risk. These results highlight the negative effects of high family risk situation in preadolescents and give value of taking into account protective factors such as learning potential when assessing preadolescents from high family risk.

Keywords

executive functionhigh family riskinterpersonal solving-problem skillslearning potentialpreadolescence
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 20 , 2017 , E56
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2017 

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Footnotes

This research was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, R&D Project Ref. 2011–24370 and by the Junta de Andalucía through Proyecto de Excelencia convocatoria 2012, Ref. P12-SEJ-560. The data included in this paper are part of the Doctoral dissertation of M. Mar Gómez-Pérez. We are grateful to the participants, their parents and staff from the Salle school Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, in Antequera (Spain). This project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universidad de Granada. All authors are affiliated to Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento (CIMCYC), Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Granada.

How to cite this article:

Mata, S., Gómez-Pérez, M. M., Molinero, C., & Calero, M. D. (2017). Interpersonal problem-solving skills, executive function and learning potential in preadolescents with high/low family risk. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 20. e56. Doi:10.1017/sjp.2017.54

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