Empathy in Institutionalized Adolescents With Callous-Unemotional Traits

Abstract

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with impaired distress recognition, possibly leading to suboptimal empathy development. Evidence stems from computerized task results, having little in common with day-to-day experiences. We assessed institutionalized adolescents’ empathic accuracy in their ability to infer staff members’ emotions, using Ecological Momentary Assessment. A sample of 55 adolescents reported perceived levels of distress and anger in staff, 4 times per day over the course of 8 days. CU traits were assessed with the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, and data were submitted to multilevel regression analyses. All adolescents well identified anger and distress; high CU adolescents even overestimated both anger and distress intensities. Our ecological data suggest that in real-life situations, cognitive empathy skills may compensate for high CU adolescents’ distress recognition impairment. However, this compensatory process results in the perception of excessively negative emotions.