Impact of stable environments on maltreated children

The development of the ability to understand others' facial expressions is thought to be dependent on the environment in which one has been reared.

This study compared the ability to understand others' facial expressions between 15 children who were in an unstable environment, 11 children who had been maltreated before and were in a stable environment, like a foster family, and 33 children who had never been maltreated. We used the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) as measure.

Children who were in an unstable environment scored higher on the RMET than children who had never been maltreated.

The results suggested that hypersensitivity to others' facial expressions might be an adaptive response to a harmful environment and that it might decline when in a stable environment because such sensitivity is no longer needed.