Primary Versus Secondary Callous-Unemotional Traits: A Longitudinal Study of Predictors,Outcomes,and Gender Differences

Abstract

Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits are key predictors of conduct problems. Although primary and secondary CU variants have been identified, longitudinal evidence and the role of gender remain limited. This study examined CU subtypes, predictors, and outcomes using data from the ELISA Project (n = 2,163; 49.4% girls; M_ageT1 = 4.26; M_ageT6 = 10.92). Children were classified as Low CU/Low Anx (77.9%), Primary CU (11%), Anxiety (8.9%), or Secondary CU (2.2%) based on CU and anxiety scores. Predictors (i.e., fearlessness, emotionality, parenting variables, parental stress) were analyzed using ridge penalized MLR, and aggression correlates and emotional-behavioral outcomes with MANOVAs. Risk for Primary CU was associated with elevated fearlessness, punitive parenting, and lower parental warmth across genders, as well as higher parental inconsistency among girls. Risk for Secondary CU was characterized by increased punitive parenting among boys and reduced parental warmth across genders. At T4, exploratory analyses suggested higher relational aggression among girls within the Primary CU group, whereas boys in the Secondary CU group tended to show higher overt aggression. By T6, the Secondary variant was characterized by overall poorer emotional and behavioral outcomes compared with the Primary variant. Findings point to distinct developmental pathways across CU variants and underscore the importance of gender-sensitive perspectives in CU research.

Keywords

CU variants anxiety gender differences longitudinal study psychopathic traits

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach

T. M.

Rescorla

L. A.

(2001). Child behavior checklist for ages 6-18 (CBCL/6-18, ASEBA CBCL/6-18) [Database record]. APA PsycTests. https://doi.org/10.1037/t47452-000

American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5 Task Force. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5™ (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.

Bégin

Déry

Le Corff

(2021). Variants of psychopathic traits follow distinct trajectories of clinical features among children with conduct problems. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49(6), 775–788. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-021-00775-3

Bégin

Mavungu-Blouin

Hamilton

Therriault

Le Corff

Déry

(2024). Primary and secondary variants of callous-unemotional traits in children with conduct problems: A longitudinal follow-up during adolescence. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 52(6), 933–948. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-024-01168-y

Bennett

D. C.

Kerig

P. K.

(2014). Investigating the construct of trauma-related acquired callousness among delinquent youth: Differences in emotion processing. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 27(4), 415–422. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.21931

Berry

J. O.

Jones

W. H.

(1995). The Parental Stress Scale: Initial psychometric evidence. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 12(3), 463–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407595123009

Blair

R. J.

(1995). A cognitive developmental approach to mortality: Investigating the psychopath. Cognition, 57(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(95)00676-p

Bobes

M. T.

Jover

Llácer

Carot

J. M.

Sanjuan

(2011). Adaptación española del EAS Temperament Survey para la evaluación del temperamento infantil [Spanish adaptation of the EAS Temperament Survey for the assessment of the childhood temperament]. Psicothema, 23(1), 160–166.

Buss

A. H.

Plomin

(1984). Temperament: Early developing personality traits. Erlbaum.

10.

Calandri

Graziano

Cattelino

Testa

(2021). Depressive symptoms and loneliness in early adolescence: The role of empathy and emotional self-efficacy. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 41(3), 369–393. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431620919156

11.

Card

N. A.

Stucky

B. D.

Sawalani

G. M.

Little

T. D.

(2008). Direct and indirect aggression during childhood and adolescence: A meta-analytic review of gender differences, intercorrelations, and relations to maladjustment. Child Development, 79(5), 1185–1229. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01184.x

12.

Charles

N. E.

Acheson

Mathias

C. W.

Michael Furr

Dougherty

D. M.

(2012). Psychopathic traits and their association with adjustment problems in girls. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 30(5), 631–642. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2029

13.

Cohen

(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Routledge.

14.

Colins

O. F.

Andershed

Frogner

Lopez-Romero

Veen

Andershed

A. K.

(2014). A new measure to assess psychopathic personality in children: The child problematic traits inventory. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 36(1), 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-013-9385-y

15.

Craig

S. G.

Goulter

Moretti

M. M.

(2021). A systematic review of primary and secondary callous-unemotional traits and psychopathy variants in youth. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24(1), 65–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-020-00329-x

16.

Crick

(1996). The role of overt aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior in the prediction of children’s future social adjustment. Child Development, 67, 2317–2327. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01859.x

17.

Crick

Grotpeter

J. K.

(1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66(3), 710–722. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131945

18.

de Jong

V. M. T.

Eijkemans

M. J. C.

van Calster

Timmerman

Moons

K. G. M.

Steyerberg

E. W.

van Smeden

. (2019). Sample size considerations and predictive performance of multinomial logistic prediction models. Statistics in Medicine, 38(9), 1601–1619. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.8063

19.

de la Osa Osa

Granero

Penelo

Domènech

J. M.

Ezpeleta

(2014). Psychometric properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-Preschool Revision (APQ-Pr) in 3 year-old Spanish preschoolers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(5), 776–784. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9730-5

20.

Docherty

Boxer

Huesmann

L. R.

O’Brien

Bushman

B. J.

(2016). Exploring primary and secondary variants of psychopathy in adolescents in detention and in the community. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 45(5), 564–578. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2014.979934

21.

Donohue

M. R.

Hoyniak

C. P.

Tillman

Barch

D. M.

Luby

(2021). Callous-unemotional traits as an intervention target and moderator of parent-child interaction therapy-emotion development treatment for preschool depression and conduct problems. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 60(11), 1394–1403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2021.03.018

22.

Eysenck

H. J.

(1964). Crime and personality. Houghton Mifflin Co.

23.

Ezpeleta

Granero

de la Osa

Domènech

J. M.

(2017). Developmental trajectories of callous-unemotional traits, anxiety and oppositionality in 3–7 year-old children in the general population. Personality and Individual Differences, 111, 124–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.02.005

24.

Fanti

K. A.

Demetriou

C. A.

Kimonis

E. R.

(2013). Variants of callous-unemotional conduct problems in a community sample of adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(7), 964–979. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9958-9

25.

Fanti

K. A.

Kimonis

(2017). Heterogeneity in externalizing problems at age 3: Association with age 15 biological and environmental outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 53(7), 1230–1241. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000317

26.

Fleming

G. E.

Kimonis

E. R.

(2018). PCIT for children with callous-unemotional traits. In Niec

L. N.

(Ed.), Handbook of parent-child interaction therapy: Innovations and applications for research and practice (pp. 19–34). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97698-3_2

27.

Flexon

J. L.

(2016). Callous-unemotional traits and differently motivated aggression: An examination of variants in a noninstitutionalized sample. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 14(4), 367–389. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204015577000

28.

Frick

P. J.

Barry

C. T.

Kamphaus

R. W.

(2020). Clinical assessment of child and adolescent personality and behavior (4th ed.). Springer.

29.

Frick

P. J.

Lilienfeld

S. O.

Ellis

Loney

Silverthorn

(1999). The association between anxiety and psychopathy dimensions in children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 383–392. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021928018403

30.

Gao

Raine

(2024). Primary and secondary variants of callous-unemotional traits in community youths: Differences in anticipatory fear. Children, 11(3), 359. https://doi.org/10.3390/children11030359

31.

Goulter

Craig

S. G.

McMahon

R. J.

(2023). Primary and secondary callous–unemotional traits in adolescence are associated with distinct maladaptive and adaptive outcomes in adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 35(1), 274–289. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421000481

32.

Goulter

Kimonis

E. R.

Hawes

S. W.

Stepp

Hipwell

A. E.

(2017). Identifying stable variants of callous-unemotional traits: A longitudinal study of at-risk girls. Developmental Psychology, 53(12), 2364–2376. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000394

33.

Harrell

F. E.

(2015). Regression modeling strategies (2nd ed.). Springer.

34.

Humayun

Kahn

R. E.

Frick

P. J.

Viding

(2014). Callous-unemotional traits and anxiety in a community sample of 7-year-olds. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 43(1), 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2013.814539

35.

Hyde

J. S.

Bigler

R. S.

Joel

Tate

C. C.

van Anders

S. M.

(2019). The future of sex and gender in psychology: Five challenges to the gender binary. American Psychologist, 74(2), 171–193. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000307

36.

Johnston

Jones

Manley

(2018). Confounding and collinearity in regression analysis: A cautionary tale and an alternative procedure, illustrated by studies of British voting behaviour. Quality & Quantity, 52(4), 1957–1976. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0584-6

37.

Karpman

(1941). On the need of separating psychopathy into two distinct clinical types: The symptomatic and the idiopathic. Journal of Criminal Psychopathology, 3, 112–137.

38.

Kimonis

E. R.

Frick

P. J.

Munoz

L. C.

Aucoin

K. J.

(2008). Callous-unemotional traits and the emotional processing of distress cues in detained boys: Testing the moderating role of aggression, exposure to community violence, and histories of abuse. Development and Psychopathology, 20(2), 569–589. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457940800028X

39.

Kochanska

(1991). Socialization and temperament in the development of guilt and conscience. Child Development, 62(6), 1379–1392. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1991.tb01612.x

40.

Kochanska

(1993). Toward a synthesis of parental socialization and child temperament in early development of conscience. Child Development, 64(2), 325–347. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131254

41.

Kochanska

(1997). Multiple pathways to conscience for children with different temperaments: From toddlerhood to age 5. Developmental Psychology, 33(2), 228–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.33.2.228

42.

Kraft

Mayeux

(2018). Associations among friendship jealousy, peer status, and relational aggression in early adolescence. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 38(3), 385–407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431616670992

43.

Larstone

R. M.

Craig

S. G.

Moretti

M. M.

(2018). An attachment perspective on callous and unemotional characteristics across development. In Livesley

W. J.

Larstone

(Eds.), Handbook of personality disorders: Theory, research, and treatment (2nd ed., pp. 324–336). The Guilford Press.

44.

Lee

S. Y.

(2024). Primary and secondary callous-unemotional childhood variants in a Korean community sample. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 56, 1368–1380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-024-01747-6

45.

Meimoun

Aelenei

Bonnot

(2024). Theorizing and studying reactions to gender norm violations. Collabra: Psychology, 10(1), 125682. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.125682

46.

Midway

Robertson

Flinn

Kaller

(2020). Comparing multiple comparisons: Practical guidance for choosing the best multiple comparisons test. PeerJ, 8, Article e10387. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10387

47.

Moore

A. A.

Blair

R. J.

Hettema

J. M.

Roberson-Nay

(2019). The genetic underpinnings of callous-unemotional traits: A systematic research review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 100, 85–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.02.018

48.

Paterson

Sanson

(1999). The association of behavioural adjustment to temperament, parenting and family characteristics among 5-year-old children. Social Development, 8(3), 293–309. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00097

49.

R Core Team. (2024). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.R-project.org/

50.

Spears

C. S.

Biefeld

S. D.

Tam

M. J.

(2020). Gender in childhood. Cambridge University Press.

51.

Spence

S. H.

Rapee

McDonald

Ingram

(2001). The structure of anxiety symptoms among preschoolers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39(11), 1293–1316. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0005-7967(00)00098-x

52.

Sylvers

Lilienfeld

S. O.

LaPrairie

J. L.

(2011). Differences between trait fear and trait anxiety: Implications for psychopathology. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(1), 122–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.08.004

53.

Tabachnick

B. G.

Fidell

L. S.

(2019). Using multivariate statistics (7th ed.). Pearson.

54.

van Buuren

Groothuis-Oudshoorn

. (2011). mice: Multivariate imputation by chained equations in R. Journal of Statistical Software, 45, 1–67. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v045.i03

55.

Viding

Blair

R. J.

Moffitt

T. E.

Plomin

(2005). Evidence for substantial genetic risk for psychopathy in 7-year-olds. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 46(6), 592–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00393.x

56.

Waaler

P. M.

Bergseth

Vaskinn

Espenes

Holtan

Kjøbli

Bjørnebekk

(2024). Identification of treatment elements for adolescents with callous unemotional traits: A systematic narrative review. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 18(1), 110. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-024-00792-2

57.

White

B. A.

Gordon

Guerra

R. C.

(2015). Callous-unemotional traits and empathy in proactive and reactive relational aggression in young women. Personality and Individual Differences, 75, 185–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.11.031

58.

Young

A. F.

Powers

J. R.

Bell

S. L.

(2006). Attrition in longitudinal studies: Who do you lose? Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 30(4), 353–361. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-842x.2006.tb00849.x

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.35 MB