ABSTRACT
Considering the importance of mental representations of parental figures in the developmental trajectory of children, this study aimed to analyze the relationship of these representations with the social competence of abused and nonabused children. A total of 62 school-aged children participated in this study (22 maltreated and 40 nonmaltreated). The mental representations of the children were assessed with the Children Representations about Parental Figures Interview, while social competence was assessed with means of the Portuguese version of the Social Skills Rating System - form for teachers. The association between representations of parental figures and social competence observed in normative samples does not exist in abused children. These results suggest that abused and nonabused children attribute different meanings to their parents' behavior.
Keywords:
mental representation in children; parental representation; parent child relations; competence; child abuse