Callous‐unemotional traits and impulsivity: distinct longitudinal relations with mind‐mindedness and understanding of others

Abstract

BackgroundProblems in understanding other people's mental states may relate to distinct personality traits that are associated with early externalizing behavior. A distinction between theory of mind (ToM) and empathy has proven important in shedding light on the problems in understanding other minds encountered by children high on callous‐unemotional (CU) traits and exhibiting impulsivity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether children's early ToM and emotion understanding abilities predicted CU traits and impulsivity at age 10. A further aim was to explore whether the quality of the parent–child relationship very early in the development indirectly or directly predicted the children's CU traits and impulsivity.MethodWe examined whether ToM and empathy skills might differentially relate to personality traits associated with externalizing behaviors (i.e., impulsivity and CU traits). We examined these relations over time in a longitudinal cohort of 96 boys and girls using follow‐back analyses, incorporating measures of maternal mind‐mindedness (appropriate mind‐related talk) to examine the possible role of parent–child interaction quality.ResultsAppropriate mind‐related talk indirectly predicted CU traits (at age 10 years) via its effect on children's emotion understanding. ToM predicted impulsive/irresponsible traits, but ceased to be significant when controlling for externalizing behaviors.ConclusionThe present findings demonstrate that parents who remark appropriately on their infant's mental states may help the child to understand emotions and may mold an empathic understanding of others, thereby preventing CU traits.

Parental Embodied Mentalizing and its Relation to Mind‐Mindedness, Sensitivity, and Attachment Security

“…Maternal mind‐mindedness has been shown to predict various positive aspects of children's development, including attachment security (e.g., Arnott & Meins, ; Laranjo, Bernier, & Meins, ; Lundy, ; Meins et al., , ), executive abilities (Bernier, Carlson, & Whipple, ; Bernier, McMahon, & Perrier, ), early language abilities (Bernier et al., ; Meins, Fernyhough, Arnott, Leekam, & de Rosnay, ), theory of mind (Kirk et al., ; Laranjo, Bernier, Meins, & Carlson, , ; Meins et al., ), emotion understanding (Centifanti, Meins, & Fernyhough, ), and in children from low socioeconomic status backgrounds fewer behavioral difficulties (Meins, Centifanti, Fernyhough, & Fishburn, ) and higher school attainment (Meins, Fernyhough, & Centifanti, ).…”

Mothers' Early Mind‐Mindedness Predicts Educational Attainment in Socially and Economically Disadvantaged British Children

“…Early mind‐mindedness is also positively related to children's sociocognitive development throughout early childhood. For example, mothers' appropriate mind‐related comments in the 1st year of life predict superior theory‐of‐mind abilities between ages 2 and 4 (Laranjo, Bernier, Meins, & Carlson, , ; Meins, Fernyhough, Arnott, Leekam, & de Rosnay, ; Meins et al., , ) and better age‐4 emotion understanding (Centifanti, Meins, & Fernyhough, ). Research has so far failed to identify mediating factors in the relation between early appropriate mind‐related comments and children's later mentalizing abilities.…”

Maternal sensitivity to distress, attachment and the development of callous‐unemotional traits in young children

“…Using an index of parental sensitivity derived from parent–child observations at ages 24, 36, and 58 months, Wagner, Mills‐Koonce, Willoughby, Zvara, and Cox () found that less sensitive parenting predicted higher levels of CU traits in first grade controlling for earlier measures of CU behaviors. We have previously reported that maternal sensitivity assessed at age 29 weeks predicted CU traits at 2.5 years (Bedford, Pickles, Sharp, Wright, & Hill, ), and Centifanti, Meins, and Fernyhough () found that mind‐mindedness, indexing the mother's awareness of her infant's states of mind, assessed at age 8 months predicted children's self‐report of CU traits at 10 years.…”