Social Cognition Mediates the Relation Between Early Cognitive Functioning and Later Behavior Problems

Introduction: Deficits in general cognitive and social functioning are frequently observed in children with behavior problems (Hinshaw & Lee, 2003). However, most studies have focused on the role of social information processing, and little is known about how more global measures of social cognition are related to behavior problems. For instance, research suggests that aggressive children, particularly those who engage in interpersonal aggression (i.e., bullying) lack appropriate prosocial and empathic behaviors (Eisenberg et al., 2010). There is also a lack of research investigating the mechanism through which general cognitive functioning is related to behavior problems. Given the strong links between cognitive and social functioning (Adolphs, 2001), we hypothesize that social cognition mediates the relation between cognitive functioning and behavior problems. 

Methods: Data for the current study (N = 350) were collected as part of a longitudinal study of mostly intact (61.3%) European American families from East Coast metropolitan and rural areas; 49.9% were male. Cognitive functioning at age 4 was defined by numerate/spatial, bodily kinesthetic, linguistic, and interpersonal abilities. Social cognition was measured at age 10 as child-reported perceptions of friendship and peers and ratings of children’s empathy (child-reported) and prosocial behavior (mother- and teacher-reported). Children’s behavior problems at age 14 were defined as mother-reported ratings of externalizing behavior and anger and child-reported ratings of externalizing behavior, behavioral conduct, and bullying. We used structural equation modeling in Mplus version 7.2 (Muthén & Muthén, 2014) and tested the mediating effect of social cognition using the product of coefficients method and bootstrapped standard errors (MacKinnon et al., 2004). 

Results: The mediation model fit the data well, χ2 (71, N = 350) = 118.06, p < .001; CFI = .98, TLI = .97, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .06. Direct effects of cognitive functioning on social cognition (β = .31, p < .01) and of social cognition on behavior problems (β = -.54, p < .05) indicated that higher levels of cognitive functioning predicted higher social cognition and higher social cognition predicted fewer behavior problems. There was no direct effect of cognitive functioning on behavior problems (β = .02, ns); however, the indirect effect was significant (β = -.17, p < .05).

Conclusions: Social cognition may function as a suppressor variable (MacKinnon et al., 2000) and is therefore a key factor in the relation between cognitive functioning and behavior problems. These findings suggest that interventions targeting children’s social cognition in middle childhood may reduce children’s externalizing and bullying behaviors.