The Portuguese Version of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits Self-Report and its Short Form Among a Normative Sample of Community Youths

Abstract

The primary aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) self-report and its short version (ICU-12) among a mixed-sex normative sample of 782 Portuguese youth (M = 15.87 years; SD = 1.72). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the three-factor structure of the ICU obtained the best fit after the removal of two items, and the two-factor structure of the ICU-12 obtained the best fit after the removal of one item. Cross-sex measurement invariance was demonstrated for both versions of the inventory. The 22-item version of the ICU and its 11-item short form (ICU-SF) demonstrated generally adequate psychometric properties of internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity (e.g., with conduct disorder symptoms). In terms of known-groups validity, males scored significantly higher than females. Results suggest that the use of the ICU and ICU-SF among Portuguese-speaking youth is psychometrically justified.

Validation and measurement invariance of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in Chinese incarcerated and normative samples.

“…Notably, our findings are consistent with those of the few studies that have examined the ICU in Chinese populations in various age ranges (e.g., children, adolescents, young adults), which have unanimously suggested that the SF-ICU-11 should be preferred over the original 24-item ICU or the SF-ICU-12 when assessing Chinese populations. Also, our findings show that Callousness and Uncaring can be reliably and conveniently measured with a relatively short scale in Chinese populations, as in European populations (Allen et al, 2021; Colins et al, 2016; Pechorro et al, 2019). Rigorously and accurately measuring CU traits in Asian populations will enable future research to further understand the traits’ development over the life span in different cultures.…”

“…Furthermore, our normative sample was mixed gender, as opposed to male only in the incarcerated sample. However, some previous studies have established measurement invariance of the ICU across gender (Essau et al, 2006; Pechorro et al, 2019). Our two samples are not demographically representative of the general Chinese population, either.…”

“…Colins et al (2016) further developed the SF-ICU-11 by removing the only Unemotional item included in the SF-ICU-12 ("Does not show emotions"), which showed the lowest loading on the Callousness factor. The factor structure of the SF-ICU-11 has been supported in European (Allen et al, 2021;Pechorro et al, 2019) and Chinese (Wang et al, 2017(Wang et al, , 2020Zhang et al, 2019) samples. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the original ICU's advantage over the APSD and Psychopathy Checklist-that is, its more comprehensive assessment of CU traits-is limited using the SF-ICU, given the reduction in the number of items.…”

“…This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Chinese populations, as in European populations (Allen et al, 2021;Colins et al, 2016;Pechorro et al, 2019). Rigorously and accurately measuring CU traits in Asian populations will enable future research to further understand the traits' development over the life span in different cultures.…”

Psychometric properties of the Portuguese teacher-version of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits

“…Still, it is important to note that research on CU traits with young children in Portugal is scarce, partly due to the lack of suitable instruments for this developmental stage. Carvalho et al (2018) and Pechorro et al (2019) provided a validation of ICU self-report and a short form with data from samples of community youths, as well as from detained juvenile offenders (Pechorro et al, 2016, 2017, 2017a, 2018) but no validation study has been conducted to date on CU traits in elementary school children and using teachers as informants.…”