Crianças e adolescentes com plumbemia: habilidades sociais, funcionamento intelectual e problemas de comportamento

Abstract

The World Health Organization has established that blood lead levels beyond 10μg/dl can cause neural behavior alterations in children, such as deficits in psychological development, hyperactivity, language development and cognition. This recognized group of potential hazards generated by blood lead level could lead to thinking about compromising of infantile interpersonal relations and social skills. Considering the absence of studies that explore the relation between high lead blood level, cognitive deficits and social skills, behavior problems, and parental educational practices, these seem to be important variables that deserve mensuration. As such, the general objective of this study was to evaluate the relation between the repertoire of social skills, academic and intellectual achievement, the behavior problems, as well as the parental educational practices of children and adolescents with different blood lead levels with a comparation group, without blood lead levels. The sample was composed by 105 participants, their ages varying between 8 and 17 years old, with high and low blood lead level, their respective parents or legal guardians and their teachers. The other 50 participants, with their respective parents or legal guardians and teachers, with the same social demographic characteristics, but without any history of lead intoxication, composed the sample. The participants were divided in three groups: GAP - Group with High Blood Lead Level(higher than 10μg/dl); GBP Group with Low Blood Lead Level (lower than 5μg/dl) and GC Comparation Group(without lead blood levels). The following instruments were used: Criteria of Economical Classification Brasil; Social Skills Rating SSRS-BR (child and professor version); Inventory of Social Skills for Adolescents- IHSA- Del-Prette; the Inventory of Parental Styles- IEP, child and parent version, the WISC-III and the TDE. In order to achieve the objectives proposed here, five articles were produced. One theoretical manuscript, approaching blood lead levels, risk factors and protection, public health issues and the psychology role in dealing with this issue and the effects. . Other referring to the social repertoire, intellectual and academic performance of adolescents with high and low blood levels (Manuscript II). The manuscript III that investigated the variation of social skills, behavior problems and academic competence regarding the blood lead levels, as to verify the possible protective role of social skills. Manuscript IV assessed the educational practices of children caregivers with different lead blood levels. For that, the psychometrics qualities of an inventory were tested, which evaluates the parental styles, both in the mother s perceptions and the son s, the IEP. Finally, Manuscript V, that had the objective of identifying variables (social skills, parenting practices, behavior problems and academic competence) that distinguish the children with and without intoxication by the metal lead and the possible protective role of social skills on behavioral problems in both groups. In general lines, the results showed more losses (more behavior problems, less academic competence and less social skills, when evaluated by the teacher) for the participants with high and low blood lead levels when compared to the group without blood lead levels. In regards to social skills, it has found a discrepancy between the autoevaluation and the teacher s evaluation. In selfevaluation perspective, the infected children evaluated their social skills more positively than their teachers. Research and practical questions are discussed from these results.