Cognitive flexibility and socioemotional competences as a modulating factor of psychopathological symptoms in adolescence

Abstract

Background

The deficit in socio-emotional competence can lead to the development of problems in different areas such as educational and psychosocial (Fernández-Vilar et al., 2012), to understand the etiology of psychopathology, it is necessary to explore the nature and origin of competencies (Mcfall, 1982). The objective of this study is to evaluate the Cognitive Flexibility (FC) that reveals the functioning of the internal devices of these schemes, and thus access the quality of problem behavior

Method

The sample n = 425 participants, grade 6 to 11 of high school. Being 193 (45.4 %) males, 232 females (54.6 %); aged between 13 and 18 years old. Two scales were used: EEFCO (Evaluation of Cognitive Flexibility Scale); Alpha α = 0.565 - 0, 886 and the ECSE scale with α = 0.895.

Results

Correlation coefficients yielded significance rho = (0.41) between the Cognitive Flexibility (FC) and Socio-emotional Competencies (SEC) scales, being a predictive element of the tendencies and inclinations of psychopathological traits.

Conclusions

Such estimation explains that the index of Cognitive Flexibility, associated with SEC, allows asses the level of psychological adjustment and cognitive styles in the adolescent; this suggests examining the compensation mechanisms, in the face of new socio-affective learning, in adolescence.