Childhood Callous-Unemotional Traits Moderate the Relation Between Parenting Distress and Conduct Problems Over Time

Abstract

Citation for published item:p ntiD uF nd gentif nti @n¡ ee wu£ nozAD vFgF @PHIRA 9ghildhood llousEunemotion l tr its moder te the rel tion etween p renting distress nd ondu t pro lems over timeF9D ghild psy hi try nd hum n developmentFD RS @PAF ppF IUQEIVRF Further information on publisher's website:The nal publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10578-013-0389-3.Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Maria-Zoe Hadjicharalambous for useful comments on a previous draft of this paper.2 AbstractThe present short-term longitudinal study examines the bidirectional effects among paternalreported and maternal-reported involvement, distress and conduct-problems (CP) in children ages 7-12 years with callous-unemotional (CU) traits as a potential moderator. Latent profile analysis revealed four groups: high, moderate, decreasing, and low on CU traits. Findings suggested that children high on CU traits were at higher risk to exhibit CP and were more likely to experience low parental-involvement and high parental-distress compared to children with low, decreasing, and moderate CU traits. Findings from the cross-lagged structural equation model suggested that high levels of CP predicted increases in parenting distress, and this was shown for youth with high levels of CU traits. In turn, parental-reported distress predicted increases in CP for children in the low and decreasing CU groups. A negative bidirectional association between maternal-involvement and CP was also identified. Findings extend crosssectional research showing parents become distressed by CP behaviors, particularly when accompanied by high CU traits.

The Reciprocal Influence of Callous-Unemotional Traits, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Parenting Practices in Preschoolers

“…Observed positive parenting could be a reaction to the increased distress that parents experience when faced with preschoolers who are both reactively aggressive and cold or manipulative [42]. In other words, parents may exhibit positive parenting behaviors to counteract early signs of a lack of empathy, guilt and prosocial behavior.…”

“…Children of poor-monitoring parents may fail to associate reward and punishment with their actions, and the absence of constructive parental feedback allows for aggressive and defiant behaviors to proliferate unchecked. Relatedly, parents may find children with ODD behavior difficult to monitor, and with increased displays of child defiance, parents would distance themselves even more in the form of reduced monitoring or supervision [42], perpetuating the cycle. Importantly, our finding that poor monitoring poses a risk factor for CU traits suggests that despite the strong contribution of genetics, CU traits are influenced by environmental factors.…”

Reciprocal Influences between Negative Life Events and Callous-Unemotional Traits

“…That is, future research is needed to address whether youth with CU traits seek out environments that are more risky (e.g., drug dealing), create or change situations (e.g., dropping out of school) to be compatible with their genetically influenced individual characteristics (i.e., active correlation), or whether their experiences (e.g., harsh parenting) arise as a consequence of social interaction and reactions to their genetically influenced individual characteristics (i.e., evocative correlation; Hawes et al, 2011;Kandler et al, 2012). Evidence demonstrating that child CU traits may elicit parental distress, punitive parenting, and less parental involvement over time (Fanti & Centifanti, 2014;Hawes et al, 2011), suggests that the characteristics of high CU youth may directly increase the likelihood of negative life events (e.g., family conflict) or predispose youth to circumstances that increase the risk for negative life events (e.g., poor parental monitoring leading to increased likelihood of poor grades). This may extend to the peer domain given links between CU traits and bullying, proactive and relational aggression (Fanti & Kimonis, 2012;Marsee, Silverthorn & Frick, 2005), and propensity towards revenge, dominance, and forced respect during peer conflict (Pardini, 2011;.…”

“…Our findings suggest that policy and interventions targeting life events would be helpful in preventing a potentially self-perpetuating cycle of CU TRAITS AND NEGATIVE LIFE EVENTS 20 symptoms and stressors. This includes broader societal policy to address poverty and neighbourhood disadvantage, factors known to increase risk for adversities linked with CU traits and antisocial behaviour including violence exposure, parent distress, harsh parenting and poor parental supervision (Fanti & Centifanti, 2014;Howard et al, 2012;Muñoz et al, 2011). Some life events are essentially acts of fate (e.g., natural disasters, terrorist attacks) and thus may be difficult to prevent.…”

Types of Relational Aggression in Girls Are Differentiated by Callous-Unemotional Traits, Peers and Parental Overcontrol

“…People with CU traits have been found to show a combined form of aggression that includes proactive and reactive aggression [ 2 , 14 , 17 ]. Marsee et al [ 2 ] examined the role of CU traits in relational aggression.…”