Adolescent Callous-Unemotional Traits Mediates the Longitudinal Association between Conduct Problems and Media Violence Exposure

Kostas Fanti,Maria-Zoe Hadjicharalambous,Evita Katsimicha

doi:10.3390/soc3030298

Kostas Fanti, Maria-Zoe Hadjicharalambous + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/soc3030298

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Journal: Societies	Publication Date: Sep 16, 2013
Citations: 2	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Cyprus

Abstract

The current study investigates the bidirectional longitudinal association between conduct problems (CPs) and media violence exposure (MVE), with callous-unemotional (CU) traits as a potential mediator of this association. The sample consisted of 1,451 (49.9% boys) Greek Cypriot adolescents. CPs and MVE were measured at Year 1 and Year 3 and CU traits were measured at Year 2, enabling the examination of longitudinal associations and indirect effects between these variables. A bidirectional association between CPs and MVE was identified. Further, both CPs and MVE at Year 1 were positively associated with Year 2 CU traits, and youth high on CU traits at Year 2 were more likely to exhibit CP behaviors and to be exposed to media violence at Year 3. Finally, two indirect pathways were identified, suggesting that the longitudinal bidirectional association between CPs and MVE was partially mediated by CU traits. These findings suggest that CU traits constitute an underlying mechanism explaining the longitudinal association between CPs and MVE.

Highlights

Mass media represents a principle source of entertainment, a number of studies provided evidence for potential negative influences on people’s behaviors and emotions after long term and short-term exposure to different types of media (e.g., [1,2,3])
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD) subscale scores were highly correlated across time, providing evidence for their interrelation, and were significantly associated with both media violence exposure (MVE) and CU traits across time, providing initial evidence for the longitudinal associations between the variables under study
The present findings support the idea that MVE predicts conduct problems (CPs), a more specific type of aggressive and antisocial behavior, which is in accordance with the General Aggression Model proposed by Anderson and Dill [63]

Summary

Introduction

Mass media represents a principle source of entertainment, a number of studies provided evidence for potential negative influences on people’s behaviors and emotions after long term and short-term exposure to different types of media (e.g., [1,2,3]). An alarming fact is that young children and adolescents spend a disproportionate amount of their time watching or interacting with violent media, possibly leading to increases in aggressive and antisocial behavior [4]. Exposure to violent media is a great cause of concern for the potential harmful effects on child and adolescent behavior. Individuals who already exhibit aggressive and antisocial behaviors are more likely to watch and to be exposed to media violence (e.g., [5,6]). It is important to examine the bidirectional association between media violence and antisocial behavior. In addition to investigating the bidirectional link between violent media and antisocial behavior, it is of great importance to determine whether this link is mediated by personality characteristics. We propose that callous-unemotional traits might be such a mediator, since youth characterized by callous-unemotional traits engage in aggressive and antisocial behaviors with low empathy and regret towards the victims of their interpersonal transgressions (e.g., [7])

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