ABSTRACT
Objective: Most studies on conduct disorder (CD) have focused on male adolescents, disregarding analysis of this psychopathology in women. The purpose of this study was to identify differences in empathy and theory of mind (ToM) in a group of adolescent women with CD and a control group. Method: Thirty-six adolescent women were selected from an initial sample of 239 adolescents (CD group = 18, control group = 18). Empathy and ToM were evaluated through objective instruments. Mean comparisons and multivariate analysis were performed to ascertain differences between cases and controls and to propose a prediction model based on clinical status. Results: Significant differences in empathic abilities and ToM were found between the groups. The model that differentiated both groups was composed of eye-reading ability, perspective taking, and personal distress. Conclusion: These findings are consistent with previous studies. Capacity to take the other's perspective and the recognition of emotions in the face are protective factors against CD in women.
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Adolescent , Conduct Disorder/psychology , Empathy , Theory of Mind , Case-Control Studies , Conduct Disorder/physiopathology , Neuropsychological TestsABSTRACT
Los recuerdos autobiográficos hacen alusión a aquellos recuerdos que constituyen nuestra esencia personal, en tanto nos permiten viajar mentalmente al pasado (Ruiz, 2004) y recrear los eventos vividos anteriormente. Es decir, este tipo de recuerdos, nos permite mantener una secuencia temporal y, finalmente, una identidad. Sin embargo, su aparición, como proceso cognitivo, suele ser bastante tardío, pues sólo hacia los 4 años de edad empezamos a dar cuenta de algunos eventos vividos anteriormente. De esta manera, diversos procesos cognitivos se desarrollan con anterioridad en el proceso evolutivo. Sin embargo, fue el interés de esta investigación indagar, específicamente, por la participación que tienen el desarrollo del lenguaje y la Teoría de la mente en los progresos alcanzados en la adquisición de los recuerdos autobiográficos a lo largo del tercer y el cuarto año de vida. Para tal fin, se realizó un estudio de tipo descriptivo-correlacional, en el cual se evaluaron 80 niños y niñas provenientes de guarderías de la ciudad de Medellín, de estratos socioeconómicos 3 y 4. Se diseñó una tarea para evaluar los recuerdos autobiográficos y se aplicaron pruebas estandarizadas para evaluar ToM y Lenguaje, las cuales se realizaron durante dos sesiones (con espacio de una semana entre las dos). Aunque se encontró una relación estadísticamente significativa entre los recuerdos autobiográficos y la ToM, no se logró establecer a esta última como una fuerte predictora de dicho desarrollo. Ahora bien, a pesar de los planteamientos teór icos de diversos autores, no se encontró relación entre los recuerdos autobiográficos y el lenguaje.
Autobiographical memories allude to those memories that constitute our personal essence, this is so when allowing us to travel mentally back (Ruiz, 2004) and to recreate the events previously experienced. This means, this type of memory allows us to maintain a temporal sequence and, finally, an identity. However, its appearance, as a cognitive process, is usually quite late, because only by age of 4 do we began to realize some events we experienced before. Thus, various cognitive processes develop earlier in the evolutionary process. However, it was the interest of this research, to investigate, specifically, its involvement with the development of language and theory of mind in progress obtained in the acquisition of autobiographical memories along the third and fourth year of life. In order to achieve our goal, a descriptive-correla- tional study was performed, in which 80 children from kindergartens in the city of Medellín, from socioeconomic strata 3 and 4 were tested. A task was designed to assess autobiographical memories and to apply standardized tests to assess ToM and language, which were performed during two sessions (with about a week between the two). Although a statistically significant relationship between autobiographical memories and ToM was found, it was not possible to establish the latter as a strong predictor of such development. However, despite the theoretical approaches of different authors, no relationship between autobiographical memories and language was found.