Shenakht Journal of Psychology & Psychiatry

Introduction: Divorce is not only an event but also a process that has short-term and long-term effects on children.
Aim: The present study was conducted to compare executive functions, sensory processing and theory of mind in children from divorced families and ordinary children.
Method: This is causal-comparative research. The statistical population included 180 male and female students between 9 and 12 years old in Districts 5 and 18 of Tehran in the academic year 2021-2022 selected by convenience sampling method and divided in two groups of children from divorced families and ordinary children (n=90 in each group). For data collection, Executive Function System (D-KEFS) (Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer, 2001), Sensory Profile (Dunn, 1999) and Theory of Mind (Hutchins et al., 2012) were used. The research data was analyzed by independent t-test and SPSS 24.
Results: The results showed a significant difference in working memory (t=6.08, P<0.05), mental flexibility (t=5.12, P<0.05), inhibitory control (t=7.16, P<0.05), sensory register (t=6.72, P<0.05), sensation-seeking (t=4.65, P<0.05) and sensory sensitivity (t=7.36, P<0.05), and theory of mind levels including level 1 (t=7.12, P<0.05), level 2 (t=7.14, P<0.05), and level 3 (t=9.32, P<0.05). The mean of ordinary children was higher than that of children from divorced families, but no significant difference was observed in the mean of sensory avoiding in both groups (P˃0.05).
Conclusion: The status of executive functions, sensory processing and theory of mind in normal children was better than that of children from divorced families. Therefore, the use of educational programs to strengthen cognitive dimensions of the mind of children from divorced families with emphasis on executive functions, sensory processing and theory of mind can be effective on improving their cognitive performance.