Social interaction patterns of children and adolescents with and without oral clefts during a videotaped analogue social encounter.

Objectives: To examine the social interaction patterns of children with and without oral clefts.

Design: Participants were videotaped while interacting with a peer confederate. Oral cleft and control groups were compared on social behavior and several self- and parent-report measures.

Participants: Thirty-four 8- to 15-year-olds with oral clefts, matched for sex, age, and socioeconomic status with 34 noncleft controls.

Main Outcome Measures: Data were obtained on social behaviors coded from videotapes and on child and parent ratings of social acceptance/competence and facial appearance.

Results: Statistically significant differences were found between groups: children with clefts made fewer choices and more often failed to respond to peer questions; children with clefts and their parents reported greater dissatisfaction with the child's facial appearance; and parents of children with clefts rated them as less socially competent. Significant within-group associations were also found. Parent perception of child social competence and child self-perception of social acceptance were positively correlated for both groups. Children with clefts who felt more socially accepted more often looked a peer in the face. Controls who felt more socially accepted chose an activity less often during the social encounter.

Conclusions: Differing patterns of overt social behavior as well as parent and self-perception can be measured between children with and without oral clefts. Such results may be helpful in developing interventions to enhance social skills and parent/child adjustment.