Child Psychopathic Traits Moderate Relationships Between Parental Affect and Child Aggression

Abstract

Objective Previous studies show that children with psychopathic traits may be less responsive to parenting. While harsh/inconsistent parenting is associated with increased problem behaviors in children low on psychopathic traits, children high on psychopathic traits show consistently high levels of problem behavior regardless of negative parenting. Moderating effects of child psychopathy on positive dimensions of parenting have not been explored. Method We applied multi-level regression models to test for interactions between child psychopathic traits and both positive and negative parental affect on individual differences in both reactive and proactive aggression in a community-based sample of 1,158 children aged 9–10. Results There were significant associations between psychopathy, and positive and negative parental affect with both forms of aggression. Child psychopathic traits also moderated effects of positive and negative parental affect. Children low on psychopathic traits showed decreasing reactive aggression as positive parental affect increased, and increasing levels of reactive aggression as negative parental affect increased, but children high on psychopathic traits showed more stable levels of reactive aggression regardless of levels of parental affect. Proactive aggression was more strongly associated with negative parental affect among children with higher levels of psychopathic traits. Conclusions In a community sample of pre-adolescent children, child psychopathic traits were shown to moderate the effects of parental affect on aggression. Reactive aggression in children high on psychopathic traits appears less responsive to variations in either positive or negative parenting. In contrast, child psychopathic traits may exacerbate the effects of high levels of negative parental effect on proactive aggression.

Sensitivity to parenting in adolescents with callous/unemotional traits: Observational and experimental findings.

“…More notable contrary findings include the observation that caregiving quality predicts CU stability (P. J. Frick, Kimonis, Dandreaux, & Farell, 2003); parental warmth may have a stronger association with problem behavior in children with elevated levels of CU traits (Kroneman, Hipwell, Loeber, Koot, & Pardini, 2011); and children with CU traits may be more sensitive to coercive parenting for proactive aggression (Yeh et al, 2011). These findings are significant in raising an alternative hypothesis that children with CU traits may, in certain circumstances, show greater sensitivity or responsiveness to caregiving.…”

“…More direct evidence derives from studies showing that CU traits moderate associations between a range of parenting dimensions and behavioral adjustment. For example, in a sample of 9-10 year-olds, Yeh and colleagues (Yeh, Chen, Raine, Baker, & Jacobson, 2011) found that children's reporting of both positive and negative parenting were more strongly associated with self-reported reactive aggression in children with low versus high levels of psychopathic traits. A study of young clinic-referred children (Pasalich, Dadds, Hawes, & Brennan, 2011) found that coercive parenting was more strongly associated with conduct problems in children with low compared with elevated levels of CU; other studies suggest that disciplinary practices may be more weakly associated with behavioral problems in children with elevated CU traits (Oxford, Cavell, & Hughes, 2003;Wootton, Frick, Shelton, & Silverthorn, 1997).…”

Prácticas de crianza predictoras de problemas moderados de conducta en niños

“…En primer término, los hallazgos indicaron que la conducta moderada de orden oposicionista desafiante es, en alto grado, consecuencia de la práctica negativa denominada disciplina inconsistente, tal como Yeh et al (2011) habían demostrado. En específico, que los niños hagan berrinches, discutan con adultos, se opongan a obedecer, molesten a las personas, culpen a otros por lo sociales limitadas o, dicho de manera más operacional, la ocurrencia de conductas problemáticas infantilesdesde moderadas hasta severas; para ello puede ser viable considerar la promoción de prácticas positivas de crianza, a fin de prevenir el comportamiento antisocial en la adolescencia o el consumo de drogas en etapas posteriores de la vida.…”

“…Aunque, en general, se ha planteado que los problemas de conducta parecen ser resultado de una disciplina rígida, inconsistente y coercitiva (Yeh, Chen, Raine, Baker, & Jacobson, 2011). Clark y Frick (2016), McDonald, Dodson, Rosenfield y Jouriles (2011), y Morales et al (2017) han mencionado que las prácticas de crianza se clasifican en positivas y negativas.…”

Crianza positiva y negativa asociada a los problemas severos de conducta infantil

“…La literatura tradicional indica que la disciplina rígida, inconsistente, coercitiva (Barker, Oliver, Viding, Salekin, & Maughan, 2011;Yeh, Chen, Raine, Baker, & Jacobson, 2011) y los estilos de crianza de baja calidez (Kroneman, Hipwell, Loeber, Koot, & Pardini, 2011) (Dadds, Allen, et al, 2012) tanto con padres como con madres, independientemente del tipo de problemas de conducta que presentan (Dadds, Jambrak, Pasalich, Hawes, & Brennan, 2011). Los estudios dirigidos a comprender las diferencias entre los estilos de crianza conforme la severidad o tipos de problemas de conducta, pueden ayudar a construir los modelos explicativos del desarrollo de la conducta problemática infantil.…”