Interparental Coercive Control and Child and Family Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

Coercive control (CC) is a core facet of intimate partner violence (IPV) and involves asserting power, dominance, and control over another person. Although the adverse impacts of childhood exposure to interparental IPV have been well documented, the outcomes of childhood exposure to interparental CC have not been systematically examined. This study aimed to address this gap by reviewing available empirical evidence on interparental CC and child and family outcomes. Articles were identified by searching electronic databases using keywords relating to CC, children and parents, and child wellbeing outcomes. The final review included 51 studies that reported on adverse outcomes pertaining to parenting and family relationships (k = 29), child internalizing and externalizing problems (k = 7), social-emotional development (k = 5), and physical/health development (k = 17). Specifically, studies reported that CC was associated with increased parental psychopathology, poorer family functioning, harsher parenting and higher levels of child abuse, strained parent-child relationships, children used as tools and co-victims of CC, increased risk of child internalizing and externalizing problems, limited socializing opportunities, increased bullying, poorer perinatal outcomes, limited access to healthcare, and increased risk of child mortality. Evidence identified CC as a unique contributor to adverse child wellbeing outcomes, independent of exposure to IPV more broadly. Results indicated that the impacts of childhood exposure to CC are complex, far reaching, and, in some cases, devastating. The limitations of the findings, as well as implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.

Childhood Experiences of Alternative Care and Callousness/Unemotionality: A Conceptual Model, Scoping Review, and Research Agenda.

Individuals with experiences of alternative care (AC; i.e., out-of-home care and institutional care) are at high risk for various mental health and relational problems stemming from exposure to serious attachment disruptions, loss, and complex trauma. Yet, despite the interpersonal context of their significant adversities, surprisingly there is scant research explicitly focusing on callousness/unemotionality (e.g., lack of guilt, callous disregard for others) in this population. This paper provides the first conceptual model for, and systematic scoping review of, callousness/unemotionality in children and young people with experiences of AC. In a comprehensive search of nine databases, 22 articles involving samples of participants in AC or with histories of AC, were identified for inclusion. The pattern of findings revealed that callous-unemotional and psychopathic traits are elevated in children and young people with AC experiences, and positively associated with AC. Moreover, results showed associations between these traits and various psychosocial correlates, most consistently with externalizing and internalizing problems and attachment-related problems. Only two intervention studies were located, one of which found benefits of training and supporting foster caregivers for reducing callous-unemotional traits. These findings are discussed with respect to gaps in the literature, future research directions, and trauma-informed practice to assess and treat callousness/unemotionality in children and young people with experiences of AC.

Sociocultural Influences on Psychopathy Traits: A Cross-National Investigation.

It is important to consider cultural implications in the development and manifestation of psychopathy because this construct is often understood in reference to behavioral deviance from social norms. This study examined the construct of psychopathy as it relates to three psychological constructs that are shaped by sociocultural contexts: collectivism-individualism, Zhongyong thinking, and dialectical self-concept. The authors recruited 636 participants from four nations and examined differences between Western English-speaking populations and East Asian Chinese-speaking populations. The results showed that collectivism and Zhongyong thinking negatively correlated with the maladaptive aspects of psychopathy (affective/interpersonal and behavioral), whereas individualism and dialectical self-concept positively correlated with the behavioral aspect of psychopathy. Dialectical self-concept also negatively correlated with Boldness. The majority of these associations did not differ significantly between the Western and East Asian samples. This finding suggests the potential universality of the psychological processes of psychopathy in relation to cultural values and thinking styles.