The impact of social class and parental maltreatment on the cognitive functioning of children

The cognitive functioning of 25 maltreated children is compared to that of 25 nonmaltreated children matched in age & socioeconomic status & to that of 20 nonmaltreated children matched only on age (6-16). An abbreviated form of WISC-R & digit span tasks for selective attention & short-term memory were administered to all children. ANOVAs on global cognitive functioning from the WISC-R showed significant effects for group membership with the age-only comparison group scoring significantly higher than the other two groups. Results on the digit span tasks showed that the age-only group scored highest on short-term memory & dichotic listening; while some differences were identified between the other two groups on subtasks, there was no clear trend favoring either. The findings suggest that deprived family circumstances, rather than maltreatment per se, are responsible for the cognitive deficits often noted in maltreated children. 3 Tables, 3 References. Adapted from the source document.