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

The purpose of the present investigation was to compare the cognitive functioning of maltreated children with two groups of nonmaltreated children: those matched for age and SES and those matched only on age. All of the children ranged in age from 6 to 16 years. The rationale for employing two comparison groups was to examine the role of maltreatment and SES separately to determine which factor, if any, is associated with children's cognitive functioning. Additionally, the present investigation sought to expand on previous work by employing both global measures of cognitive functioning (WISC-R) as well as measures designed to tap specific abilities (e.g., selective attention, short-term memory). Results indicate that maltreated children demonstrated deficits in cognitive functioning but that these are no more pervasive than those found in children from the same low socioeconomic backgrounds. These findings suggest that it may be deprived family circumstances common in maltreating families, not maltreatment per se, that is responsible for the cognitive deficits often noted in maltreated children.