Abstract
Incremental prediction of aggression from callous-unemotional (CU) traits is well established, but cross-cultural replication and studies of young children are needed. Little is understood about the contribution of CU traits in children who are already aggressive. We addressed these issues in prospective studies in the United Kingdom and Colombia. In a UK epidemiological cohort, CU traits and aggression were assessed at age 3.5 years, and aggression at 5.0 years by mothers (N = 687) and partners (N = 397). In a Colombian general population sample, CU traits were assessed at age 3.5 years and aggression at 3.5 and 5.0 years by mother report (N = 220). Analyses consistently showed prediction of age-5.0 aggression by age-3.5 CU traits controlling for age-3.5 aggression. Associations between age-3.5 CU traits and age-5.0 aggression were moderated by aggression at 3.5 years, with UK interaction terms, same informant, β = .07 p = .014 cross-informant, β = .14 p = .002, and in Colombia, β = .09 p = .128. The interactions arose from stronger associations between CU traits and later aggression in those already aggressive. Our findings with preschoolers replicated across culturally diverse settings imply a major role for CU traits in the maintenance and amplification of already established aggression, and cast doubt on their contribution to its origins.
Highlights
Children with aggressive and disruptive behavior “conduct” problems who show lack of remorse, absence of empathy with others, uncaring attitudes, and lack of concern about the consequences of one’s own performance, “callous–unemotional” (CU) traits, differ in many respects from other children with conduct problems (CP) (Frick, Ray, Thornton, & Kahn, 2014; Frick & White, 2008)
We sought to establish incremental prediction as a test of validity of two measures widely used in older children, the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) and the Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits (ICU) in a high-income countries (HICs) and in a low- and middle-income countries (LMIC)
In analyses of the associations between age-3.5 and age-5.0 aggression at different levels of CU traits, shown in Supplementary Appendix 1 and Table A3, there were progressively stronger associations with increasing CU traits, which were significant at all levels
Summary
Children with aggressive and disruptive behavior “conduct” problems who show lack of remorse, absence of empathy with others, uncaring attitudes, and lack of concern about the consequences of one’s own performance, “callous–unemotional” (CU) traits, differ in many respects from other children with conduct problems (CP) (Frick, Ray, Thornton, & Kahn, 2014; Frick & White, 2008). Given that “life course persistent” CP, which are associated with a wide range of adverse outcomes in adolescence and adulthood, typically start during the preschool period (Odgers et al, 2008), it is important to understand the role of CU traits in early-onset CP This requires valid measurement of CU traits in young children. Responsiveness to, fear and sadness, possibly related to lack of eye contact in social interactions, are thought to underpin indifference to others’ distress in CU traits (Blair, Colledge, Murray, & Mitchell, 2001; Dadds, Jambrak, Pasalich, Hawes, & Brennan, 2011) This deficient response to distress has been proposed to lead to persistent aggressive behavior because the normal inhibitory effect of another persons’ distress when harming them is reduced or absent (Blair et al, 2001; Blair, 2013). When we study CU traits in general population samples, in contrast to clinical samples where all the children have CP, there are some indications that elevated CU traits may occur in the absence of CP (Fanti, 2013; Fontaine, McCrory, Boivin, Moffitt, & Viding, 2011; Rowe et al, 2010; Wall, Frick, Fanti, Kimonis, & Lordos, 2016)
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