Gendered associations among callous-unemotional traits, emotion regulation, and antisocial behavior

Abstract

Callous-unemotional (CU) Traits, a subset of psychopathic traits often used to characterize youth, affect community wellbeing via associated antisocial behaviors such as aggression, substance use, and criminal acts. Impaired emotion regulation (ER), which contributes to both internalizing and externalizing behavior, may be related to the association between CU traits and antisocial behavior. However, ER, similarly to CU traits, appears to manifest inconsistently across gender. The current study tested the role of ER in the relationship between CU traits and antisocial behavior, while incorporating gender into two theoretically-driven models of this association. Results indicated that gender moderates the indirect relationship between CU traits and antisocial behavior, specifically the association between ER and antisocial behavior, which was significantly greater for males. CU traits were associated with impaired ER comparably for each group. These findings underscore ER as a construct worthy of further investigation in the context of CU traits and interventions targeting antisocial behavior, particularly among emerging adult males.