RESUMO
Past research has associated callous-unemotional traits (CU) in young people with serious conduct problems and antisocial behavior. However, whether CU traits influence implicit attitudes toward violence remains largely unexplored. We assess this hypothesis in two independent samples: a sample of youth with no criminal records (Study 1, N = 86), and in a sample of young offenders (Study 2, N = 61). Both groups were not compared due to theoretical (very different demographics) and statistical reasons (the total sample was insufficient to be able to reach the statistical power required in the comparison of both groups). Further, we use an implicit procedure to examine whether CU traits modulate wanting for violent stimuli. Across two samples of youth, we found little evidence of an association between CU traits and implicit violent cognition. In youth with no criminal records, implicit attitudes toward violence were related to the unemotional factor of CU traits, but unrelated to other factors and to a global CU traits score. CU traits were not associated with implicit attitudes toward violence in young offenders. The latter finding was mirrored in the implicit wanting task. Overall, our findings cast some doubts on the adequacy of implicit measures to assess implicit violent cognition in youth with CU traits. We discuss potential methodological limitations of this research (e.g., characteristics of the sample and performance in the implicit procedures) that may impact our results.
RESUMO
The purpose of this research was to validate the Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits in a multi-centric community sample of Colombian children and adolescents aged between 9 and 18 years. An adapted version to the Colombian Spanish was applied to 903 school students without significant medical background (neurotypical behavior), and 118 with a clinical history of internalizing or externalizing conditions. A group of specialized judges approved the content validity of the instrument in terms of relevance and intelligibility, but concept factorial validity was low for the uncaring and callousness factors. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the existence of three dimensions (uncaring, unemotional, and callousness), but only 17 out of 24 items demonstrated adequate psychometric statistics. The consistency for the 17-item Colombian adaptation was acceptable (α = .78). Goodness-of-fit calculated through confirmatory analysis was satisfactory for a bifactor structure (model C). Neurotypical participants showed lower total scores in comparison to the other groups. Participants with internalizing conditions had higher unemotional traits, while those with externalizing behaviors more commonly presented uncaring behaviors. This study is important for psychopathy research in Colombia as provides a validated adaption of the most used instrument to assess callous-unemotional traits in children and adolescents.
RESUMO
Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore gender differences regarding theory of mind and empathy abilities in a sample of adolescents with conduct disorder (n=46; males=28 and females=18). Empathy (cognitive and emotional dimensions) and theory of mind (reading the mind through the eyes) were tested based on an observational method with a crosssectional design. Statistical analysis included: description of variables according to their type, assessment of quantitative correlations and logistic multivariate modelling for identifying variables that differentiate female from male patients. The results demonstrated significant gender differences in empathy and theory of mind evaluations. Particularly, women showed different scores for cognitive/emotional empathy and in the Reading the Mind through the Eyes test, with a lower number of behavioural symptoms. The results are discussed in light of the current empirical evidence, and some future directions in the study of conduct disorder are suggested.
Resumen El objetivo de este estudio fue explorar las diferencias de género en habilidades de teoría de la mente y empatía en una muestra de adolescentes con trastorno de conducta (n=46; 28 hombres y 18 mujeres). Se determinó un abordaje observacional con un diseño de corte transversal mediante el cual se evaluó la empatía (dimensiones cognitiva y afectiva) y teoría de la mente (lectura de la mirada). El análisis estadístico incluyó la descripción de las variables de acuerdo con su naturaleza, la evaluación de correlaciones cuantitativas, y el diseño de un modelo logístico multivariado para identificar las variables que diferencian los pacientes según su género. Los resultados indicaron diferencias significativas por género tanto en empatía como en teoría de la mente. Las mujeres presentaron de manera consistente diferencias en los niveles de empatía cognitiva/afectiva y test de la mirada, con un menor número de síntomas de conducta. Los resultados se discuten a la luz de la evidencia empírica actual y se sugieren algunas direcciones futuras en el estudio del trastorno de conducta.
