Parental Antisocial and Psychopathic Traits Influence Adolescent Psychopathology

The role of parental antisocial behavior in the development of adolescent psychopathology is well established in the literature. However, less is known about the role of parental psychopathic traits in offspring psychopathology. Adolescents (N = 210; boys = 107) and their parents participated in a study measuring parental antisocial behavior, psychopathic traits (i.e., callous-unemotional traits, impulsive-irresponsibility, and grandiosity), and adolescent psychopathology, including depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD). Results from the structural equation model suggested that maternal antisocial acts, but not anger propensity, positively predicted adolescent CD, ODD, and depressive symptoms. Paternal anger propensity mainly predicted internalizing problems, whereas paternal impulsive-irresponsibility predicted anxiety and ADHD symptoms. In addition, findings pointed to several indirect effects from maternal and paternal psychopathic traits to adolescent psychopathology, with the strongest one being between maternal impulsive-irresponsibility to maternal antisocial acts to adolescent ODD. The findings suggest that parental antisocial behaviors and psychopathic traits, and especially impulsive-irresponsibility, should be considered in interventions aiming to reduce adolescent psychopathology.

Measuring Callous Unemotional Behaviors in Early Childhood: Factor Structure and the Prediction of Stable Aggression in Middle Childhood

This study sought to replicate the results of our earlier study, which were published in this Journal (Willoughby et. al 2011), that used mother-reported items from the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment to develop a screening measure of callous unemotional (CU) behaviors for use with preschool-aged children. We further sought to extend those results by exploring the predictive validity of the CU measure with aggression trajectories in early-/mid-childhood. The current study involved secondary data analysis of the NICHD Study of Early Childhood and Youth Development (NICHD-SECCYD) dataset. Factor analyses included N = 1176 children who participated in the age 3 year assessment of the NICHD-SECCYD. Predictive models included N = 1081 children for whom four of the six possible teacher ratings of aggressive behavior were available from annual assessments spanning 1st-6th grades. Consistent with prior work, a three-factor confirmatory factor model, which differentiated CU from oppositional defiant (ODD) and attention deficit/hyperactive-impulsive (ADHD) behaviors, provided the best fit to the data. Among children with disorganized attachment status, the combination of high levels of mother-rated ODD behaviors and CU behaviors, was predictive of stable elevated levels of teacher-rated aggression from 1st-6th grade (predicted probability = .38, compared with a base rate of .07). These results demonstrate that CU behaviors can be reliably measured by parent report in young children and are dissociable from more commonly assessed dimensions of disruptive behavior. Three-year-old children who exhibit elevated levels of ODD and CU behaviors, and who have disorganized attachments, are at increased risk for exhibiting elevated levels of aggression across middle childhood. Results are discussed from the perspective of early assessment and intervention.

Using the ASEBA to Screen for Callous Unemotional Traits in Early Childhood: Factor Structure, Temporal Stability, and Utility

This study evaluated a five-item screening measure of Callous Unemotional (CU) traits using items drawn from the Preschool Form of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA). Using data from the Durham Child Health and Development study (N=178), confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that CU items could be distinguished from Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant (ODD) items. The two-year stability (N=137) of CU (ϕ=.84) was comparable to that of ADHD (ϕ=.79) and ODD (ϕ=.69). Three groups of children were selected based on parent-rated ODD and CU behaviors at the 36-month assessment (N=37; ODD+CU, N=7; ODD-only, N=12; non-ODD, N=18). Multiple measures of infant temperament predicted group membership with 84% accuracy. Consistent with Frick and Morris' (Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 33(1):54-68, 2004) hypotheses, ODD+CU and ODD-only children exhibited temperamental profiles in infancy that were consistent with low fear and emotionally dysregulated pathways into conduct problems, respectively.