Adverse Childhood Experiences and Social Cognition in Adolescents in a School in Bogota, Colombia

Abstract

Adolescence is a sensitive period for the neurodevelopment of social cognition (SC), and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) can alter these processes. This study investigated the relationship between ACE and SC in 157 adolescents (66 females, 54 males) from a school in Bogota. The level of EAN was assessed through the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale. SC was assessed with mentalization, morality and self-control tasks. In addition, behavioral problems were probed with a scale based on DSM IV-R criteria. The accumulation of ACE was related to alterations in SC in a sex-dependent manner. Specifically: (a) women with high ACEs presented lower accuracy in mental inferences and instrumental moral decisions; (b) men under similar conditions presented self-control problems; (c) exposure to armed conflict correlated with higher latency in moral decisions; and (d) men with ACE accumulation, moral decisions based on immediate rewards and low self-control showed more externalizing behaviors. The social implications of these findings for the design of evidence-based, sectorized psychosocial interventions are discussed.