Cognitive Screening and Clinical Symptoms in Victims of Child Maltreatment: Evidence of Intellectual Deficit in a Brazilian Sample

Childhood maltreatment is a serious public health issue associated with short and long-term neurobiological, cognitive, and behavioral impairments. The aim of this study was to assess global cognitive profile, prevalence of intellectual deficit, and presence of clinical symptoms in a sample of maltreated children in Brazil. In addition, the possible associations between clinical symptoms and cognitive profile were investigated. To this end, 2 groups of children aged 6 to 12 years were compared. The maltreatment group (MG) consisted of 60 children exposed to 1 or more types of maltreatment. The control group (CG) included 25 children who had not suffered maltreatment. Maltreatment assessment was made through the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ). The child's legal guardian answered a clinical and sociodemographic interview and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Children answered a semistructured interview and performed the following neuropsychological tasks: Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) matrix reasoning, WASI vocabulary, and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) digit span. Significant differences were found between groups regarding clinical symptoms assessed by CBCL, except for withdrawal/depression and internalizing symptoms. More pronounced cognitive impairment was found in the MG in all tasks, with high prevalence of borderline and extremely low intelligence levels. No associations were found between most of the clinical and cognitive domains, which suggests that cognitive difficulties do not arise from posttraumatic symptoms in the MG. Therefore, in addition to psychotherapy, cognitive stimulation interventions should be used in this population.