Callous-Unemotional Traits are Associated With Child-to-Parent Aggression.

This study examined the relations between callous-unemotional traits and perpetration of aggression toward parents in two separate studies, while also considering motivation for aggression and parenting styles experienced among young people. Study 1 involved 60 parents of children aged between 11 and 17 years old. The online study found high callous-unemotional traits, as reported by parents, to be associated with aggression toward both parents. Both types of motivation (proactive and reactive, as reported by parents) were associated with aggression toward parents. Study 2 involved 42 youths from an alternative education sample (between 11 and 16 years old). Youths with higher self-reported callous-unemotional traits reported more aggression toward both parents. Both studies, which had different reporters and different samples, showed youths with higher callous-unemotional traits were more aggressive toward their parents. In discussing the results, we note the importance of including callous-unemotional traits in future research on parent-directed aggression and in studies on domestic violence more broadly.

Parental monitoring and youth behavior problems: moderation by callous-unemotional traits over time.

Prior research suggests that parents' monitoring behaviors are related to the conduct problems of children but not to the conduct problems of children with callous-unemotional traits. However, these studies have been cross-sectional. The present short-term longitudinal study investigates the bidirectional influences of parental monitoring and youth problem behaviors, while also examining the potential moderating influence of callous-unemotional traits. We assessed adolescents (Mean age = 14.5 years; SD = 1.8) and parents at two time points. Youths reported their callous-unemotional traits and delinquency, while parents reported their child's conduct problems, and their parenting behaviors to track and control their child's activities. We found support for a child-driven change in parents' monitoring behaviors over time. Specifically, children with high callous-unemotional traits had parents who reduced their monitoring behaviors over time, and their different types of monitoring behaviors were less synchronous over time. In addition, parents of youths with high callous-unemotional traits showed a trend toward not being stable in their surveillance efforts over time. Moreover, greater behavioral control for youths high on callous-unemotional traits did not lead to parents' greater knowledge about their youths. In fact, having less knowledge was related to decreases in parental control, when youths were high on callous-unemotional traits. The present study supports the importance of personality in shaping how parents actively monitor their children.

Empathy and bullying: exploring the influence of callous-unemotional traits.

Although knowing and feeling the emotions of other people might result in less bullying, we argue that not caring about these feelings will also be important. That is, what good is empathy, if one does not care about the feelings or values of others? We examined self-reports of callous-unemotional traits (CU: Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits), bullying, and empathy in 201 children (ages 11-12 years). Results show children high on CU to be lowest in affective empathy and highest in direct bullying. While all subscales of the ICU were related to affective empathy, only the uncaring subscale was uniquely related to cognitive empathy. Empathy did not explain differences in bullying when taking into account CU traits. Therefore, failing to care about others is more important than empathy for explaining the direct and indirect bullying these children take part in. Implications for targeting different forms of empathy in treatment are considered.

Psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) in Cypriot children and adolescents.

The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) is a 38-item self-report questionnaire which measures symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Greek translation of SCAS in a large community sample of children and adolescents (N = 1,072), aged 12-17 years, in the non-occupied territory of Cyprus. A subsample of these participants was retested 8 weeks after the initial assessment. The SCAS demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha = .92) and test-retest reliability (r = .88). The SCAS total scores correlated significantly with the anxious/depressed subscale of the Youth Self-Report, the Columbia Impairment Scale, and with the emotional subscale of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed the same six-factor structure as the original SCAS. The SCAS proved to be a reliable and valid measure of anxiety symptoms in the Cypriot context.

Verbal ability and delinquency: testing the moderating role of psychopathic traits.

BACKGROUND: Impaired verbal abilities are one of the most consistent risk factors for serious antisocial and delinquent behavior. However, individuals with psychopathic traits often show serious antisocial behavior, despite showing no impairment in their verbal abilities. Thus, the aim of the current study was to examine whether psychopathy moderates the relationship between verbal abilities and delinquent behavior in a sample of detained youth. METHODS: The sample included 100 detained adolescent boys who were assessed on self-reported delinquent acts and psychopathic traits, as well as their age at first offense based on official records. Participants also completed a competitive computer task involving two levels of provocation, during which skin conductance was measured. A standard measure of receptive vocabulary was individually administered. RESULTS: As predicted, there was a significant interaction between callous-unemotional (CU) traits (a critical dimension of psychopathy) and verbal ability when predicting violent delinquency. Individuals who were high on CU traits with higher scores on the measure of verbal abilities reported the greatest violent delinquency. These individuals also showed the lowest level of skin conductance reactivity during the provocation task. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest CU traits are an important moderator of the relation between verbal abilities and violent delinquency.

Callous-unemotional traits and the emotional processing of distress cues in detained boys: testing the moderating role of aggression, exposure to community violence, and histories of abuse.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits in antisocial youth have been associated with deficits in the processing of emotionally distressing stimuli in a number of past studies. In the current study, we investigated moderators of this association in a sample of 88 ethnically diverse detained boys (mean age = 15.57, SD = 1.28). Overall, emotional processing of distressing stimuli using a dot-probe task was not related to CU traits and there was no moderating effect of ethnicity. However, CU traits were related to deficits in emotional processing in youth high on aggression and youth high on exposure to community violence. Further, youth high on CU traits but with enhanced orienting to distressing stimuli had stronger histories of abuse, supporting the possibility that there may be environmentally influenced pathways in the development of these traits.

Types of aggression, responsiveness to provocation, and callous-unemotional traits in detained adolescents.

The present study investigated differences in the behavioral and psychophysiological responses to provocation and in the level of callous-unemotional traits in boys exhibiting different patterns of aggression. Eighty-five boys (ages 13-18) in a juvenile detention center played a competitive computer task against a hypothetical peer who provided low and high levels of provocation. Youth high on both self-reported reactive and proactive aggression showed different behavioral responses to provocation than youth high on only reactive aggression. Specifically, the combined group showed high levels of aggressive responses without any provocation, whereas the group high on reactive aggression showed an increase in aggressive responding to low provocation. Further, results revealed a trend for the combined group to show lower levels of skin conductance reactivity to low provocation if they were also high on callous-unemotional traits.

Assessing callous-unemotional traits in adolescent offenders: validation of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits.

The presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits designates an important subgroup of antisocial youth. To improve upon existing measures, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) was developed to provide an efficient, reliable, and valid assessment of CU traits in samples of youth. The current study tests the factor structure and correlates of the ICU scale in a sample (n=248) of juvenile offenders (188 boys, 60 girls) between the ages of 12 and 20 (M=15.47, SD=1.37). Confirmatory factor analyses are consistent with the presence of three independent factors (i.e., Uncaring, Callousness, and Unemotional) that relate to a higher-order callous-unemotional dimension. Also, CU traits overall showed associations with aggression, delinquency, and both psychophysiological and self-report indices of emotional reactivity. There were some important differences across the three facets of the ICU in their associations with these key external criteria.

Can a laboratory measure of emotional processing enhance the statistical prediction of aggression and delinquency in detained adolescents with callous-unemotional traits?

In this cross-sectional study, we investigated whether the combination of the presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits and emotional deficits to distressing stimuli, assessed by a computerized dot-probe task, enhanced the statistical prediction of aggression and delinquency in a sample of 88 detained and predominantly African-American (68%) adolescents (M age = 15.57; SD = 1.28). Overall, self-reported CU traits were associated with self-report measures of aggression and delinquency, but not with official records of arrests. However, there was an interaction between CU traits and emotional deficits for predicting self-reported aggression, self-reported violent delinquency, and a record of violent arrests. Youth high on CU traits and who showed a deficit in their responses to visual depictions of distress showed the highest levels of aggression and violent delinquency.

Violence exposure mediates the relation between callous-unemotional traits and offending patterns in adolescents.

The link between callous-unemotional (CU) traits in youth and delinquent, aggressive and violent behavior is well-replicated in the literature. However, the mediating effects of violence exposure on this relationship are unclear. The current study addresses this important gap in the literature with a sample of 88 detained, primarily ethnic minority adolescent boys (M age = 15.57; SD = 1.28). Results indicate that exposure to violence fully mediated the relationship between CU traits and violent delinquency, and this pattern of mediation was accounted for by exposure to witnessed violence, but not direct violent victimization. Secondly, exposure to violence, both direct and witnessed forms, also mediated the relationship between CU traits and drug delinquency. These findings suggest that (a) the well-established link between CU traits and violence may be attributed to high rates of witnessed violence among this subpopulation, and (b) specific types of violence exposure may be important for predicting the offending patterns of youth high on CU traits. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Disinhibited behaviors in young children: relations with impulsivity and autonomic psychophysiology.

Cardiac activity has long been considered as a psychophysiological marker of adaptive psychological adjustment. Irregularities in autonomic nervous system activity have long been implicated in both externalizing and disinhibitory behaviors. The present study used a battery of assessments in children ages 4.5-5.5 years to examine the relation among disinhibitory measures. Additionally, cardiovascular activity and reactivity was examined. Mothers rated impulsivity and internalizing/externalizing behaviors. Reward-dominance and passive-avoidance response inhibition (i.e., via errors of commission) tasks were included. Results showed that behaviorally uninhibited children began with an attenuated sympathetic response (i.e., lengthened pre-ejection period) to an interview with a novel experimenter, while inhibited children began with a high level of sympathetic activity. Further, behavioral impulsivity was related to low sympathetic activity at rest. Consistent with theories of disinhibition, externalizing behaviors and measures of behavioral impulsivity were related to a reward-dominant response style. Findings are discussed with regard to motivational theories of behavior.

Sexually coercive tactics used by university students: a clear role for primary psychopathy.

Current research suggests that people with psychopathic traits engage in sexual coercion as an alternative mating strategy. Research overlooks the relation between psychopathic traits and coercive behavior in male and female samples that engage in dating quite frequently. Male and female university students reported on their current relationship styles and their use of minor and severe sexually coercive tactics. Results indicate that primary psychopathy (using the Levenson's SRPS), but not secondary psychopathy, predicts the use of all measures of sexual coercion for both females and males, although males were more likely to exploit an intoxicated partner than females. Additionally, females with high levels of primary psychopathy were more likely to use physical forms of coercion. The findings show that the primary psychopathy features (callousness, charm, and selfishness) predict a shortterm mating strategy that focuses on gaining sex through minor forms of coercion and manipulation.

Assessing the forms and functions of aggression using self-report: factor structure and invariance of the Peer Conflict Scale in youths.

This study examined the structure of a self-report measure of the forms and functions of aggression in 855 adolescents (582 boys, 266 girls) aged 12 to 19 years recruited from high school, detained, and residential settings. The Peer Conflict Scale (PCS) is a 40-item measure that was developed to improve upon existing measures and provide an efficient, reliable, and valid assessment of four dimensions of aggression (i.e., reactive overt, reactive relational, proactive overt, and proactive relational) in youths. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that a 4-factor model represented a satisfactory solution for the data. The factor structure fit well for both boys and girls and across high school, detained, and residential samples. Internal consistency estimates were good for the 4 factors, and they showed expected associations with externalizing variables (i.e., arrest history, callous-unemotional traits, and delinquency). Reactive and proactive subtypes showed unique associations consistent with previous literature. Implications for the use of the PCS to assess aggression and inform intervention decisions in diverse samples of youths are discussed.

Callous-unemotional traits are related to combined deficits in recognizing afraid faces and body poses.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine accuracy in labeling body poses conveying fear. Youths with callous-unemotional traits experience emotional processing deficits seemingly on par with deficits showed by patients with amygdala damage. That is, there is growing evidence that children with callous-unemotional traits have problems recognizing afraid emotional expressions. Although people with amygdala damage show deficits in labeling afraid faces, they have an intact ability to label afraid body poses. METHOD: Boys (N = 55; ages 8-16 years) from a community center were recruited to label emotional faces and static body poses and to complete the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits and a measure of violence and antisocial behavior. RESULTS: Callous-unemotional traits were related to poorer accuracy when labeling afraid faces and afraid body postures. However, when response bias was taken into account, callous-unemotional traits were related to deficits in many facial expressions. Notably, the combination of poorly labeling afraid faces and body poses was linked to the highest levels of callous-unemotional traits and violence. CONCLUSIONS: Findings support a generalized deficit in processing displays of fear that are not specific to faces. The results support the argument that a general "fear-blindness" is related to a lack of empathy and to violence and antisocial behavior. Methodological issues with regard to deciding whether people are accurately labeling fear and other emotions are discussed. However, early identification of fear deficits that affect multiple modalities is argued to be important for clinical intervention.

The reliability, stability, and predictive utility of the self-report version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device.

The psychometric properties of the self-report version of the Antisocial Processes Screening Device (APSD; Frick & Hare, 2001), a rating scale developed to assess traits associated with the construct of psychopathy in youth, was tested in a sample of 91 non-referred young adolescents with an average age of 13.38 (SD = 1.75) at the initial assessment. The sample was recruited from a large community-wide screening, where youth with conduct problems and youth high on psychopathic traits were over-sampled. The sample was reassessed three times at yearly intervals. The self-report scores on the APSD showed moderate correlations with parent ratings of psychopathic traits, were moderately stable across 1-2 years, and showed significant correlations with measures of antisocial behavior both concurrently and predictively. One major weakness of the self-report ratings was the low internal consistency of the subscales, which were much lower than the internal consistency found on the parent report version of the scale.