Disentangling the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and unsupportive parenting through a developmental lens

Abstract

Research suggests that unsupportive parenting practices are consistent but modest risk factors for children’s behavioral and social problems, emphasizing the importance in identifying sources of variability in children’s vulnerability. To address this research direction, this study examined children’s callous-unemotional (CU) traits (i.e., affective indifference; lack of guilt or empathy), as a moderator of the associations among maternal and paternal unsupportive parenting and their externalizing symptoms. Participants included 240 mothers, partners, and their children (Mage = 4.6 years; 56% girls) from diverse backgrounds (48% Black; 16% Latinx) who took part in a longitudinal multi-method study with two measurement occasions spaced 2 years apart. Findings from structural equation modeling indicated the prospective association between observational assessments of unsupportive maternal (but not paternal) parenting and residualized changes in teacher reports children’s externalizing problems over 2 years was significantly moderated by maternal reports of children’s callous-unemotional traits (β = −.21, p < .05). Follow-up analyses of the interaction provided support for differential susceptibility. These findings highlight that children with elevated CU traits may experience diminished susceptibility to parenting, while children with lower levels of CU traits may exhibit plasticity in response to socialization environments.