Social cognition of children and adolescents in residential care: A scoping review

Children and adolescents who, for their own well-being, need to be separated from their biological family may enter residential care. Most of these young people will have a history of adverse experiences (e.g., neglect or maltreatment by caregivers, frequent changes to previous care arrangements) that can severely impact their psychological development. Social cognition is a key element of social development and is central to young people's adaptation. Inadequate development of social cognition has been linked to mental health and behavior problems, both externalizing and internalizing. The aim of this study was to review current knowledge about the development of social cognition among children and adolescents in residential care, including the variables associated with it. To this end we conducted a scoping review in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) protocol. A total of 14 studies were selected for review and analyzed in depth with respect to four domains of social cognition: emotion processing, social perception, theory of mind, and attributional style. The results showed that the development of social cognition was affected in this population, with deficits being reported in all four domains. Despite the value of the findings obtained to date, there is a need for continued research into social cognition in this vulnerable population, particularly in relation to those domains that have been less widely studied, such as attributional style. Future studies should also aim to control for the effects of different types of residential care and different kinds of childhood adversity, as well as considering the developmental stage at which these experiences occurred and children's age upon entering institutional care.