Abstract
This study examined the levels of agreement between the reports of 207 adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their parents regarding the adolescents’ callous–unemotional (CU) traits and investigated the factors influencing adolescent–parent agreement. Adolescent–parent agreement about CU traits in three dimensions according to the Chinese version of the Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits was examined. The influence of demographic characteristics, comorbid conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and ADHD symptoms on adolescent–parent agreement was also examined. The results indicated that adolescent–parent agreement on the CU trait of uncaringness was moderate, whereas agreement on the CU traits of callousness and unemotionality was poor. Adolescent–parent agreement on the three dimensions of CU traits varied depending on the adolescents’ sex and comorbid CD and ODD symptoms as well as parental age. Therefore, multiple sources of information are required when assessing the severity of CU traits in adolescents with ADHD. The factors influencing the levels of the agreement should also be considered.
Highlights
The results indicated that adolescent–parent agreement on the traits of callousness and unemotionality was poor (ICC = 0.312 and 0.178, respectively), but agreement was moderate on the trait of uncaringness (ICC = 0.460)
The present study revealed a lower level of adolescent–parent agreement regarding the unemotionality trait in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) adolescents with more severe oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms than in ADHD adolescents with less severe ODD symptoms
The present study revealed that adolescent–parent agreement regarding the trait of uncaringness was lower among girls with ADHD and older parents compared with the agreement among boys with ADHD and younger parents, respectively
Summary
Callous–unemotional (CU) traits are a group of personality characteristics demonstrating a lack of care for values that others share, a lack of remorse, and a general poverty of affect [1,2]. Cross-sectional and prospective studies on children and adolescents in the community or clinical settings as well as forensic samples have reported that higher CU traits are positively associated with severe, stable, and aggressive patterns of antisocial behaviors [1,3,4,5,6], lower moral regulation, less guilt. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 3888; doi:10.3390/ijerph17113888 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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