Low social affiliation predicts increases in callous‐unemotional behaviors in early childhood

Abstract

Background Callous‐unemotional (CU) behaviors predict risk for aggression and rule‐breaking. Low social affiliation (i.e. reduced motivation for and enjoyment of social closeness) is hypothesized to be a phenotypic marker for CU behaviors in early childhood. However, studies need to establish observational methods to objectively assess social affiliation as well as to establish parenting practices that can buffer pathways from low social affiliation to CU behaviors. Methods Using data from a longitudinal twin study of 628 children (age 2, 47% females; age 3, 44.9% females), we examined reciprocal associations between observed social affiliation, CU behaviors, and oppositional‐defiant behaviors. We tested whether positive parenting moderated associations over time. Results We established that an observed measure of social affiliation derived from the Bayley’s Behavior Rating Scale and Infant Behavior Record showed high inter‐rater reliability and expected convergence with parent‐reported temperament measures. Lower social affiliation at age 2 uniquely predicted CU behaviors, but not oppositional‐defiant behaviors, at age 3. Finally, low social affiliation at age 2 predicted CU behaviors at age 3 specifically among children who experienced low, but not high, levels of parental positivity. Conclusions An objective rating scale that is already widely used in pediatric settings reliably indexes low social affiliation and risk for CU behaviors. The dynamic interplay between parenting and low child social affiliation represents an important future target for novel individual‐ and dyadic‐targeted treatments to reduce risk for CU behaviors.

More than a feeling? An expanded investigation of emotional responsiveness in young children with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits

“…Poorer quality parent-child relationships may lead parents to underestimate the emotional responsiveness (Northam et al, 2021). Strong attachment relationships and high-quality parent-child relationships have been found to protect against harms associated with CU traits (e.g., Kroneman et al, 2011;Pardini et al, 2007;Pasalich et al, 2011;Waller et al, 2014), and that the risk of developing CU traits from low social affiliation is mitigated by warm, sensitive, and responsive parenting behaviors (Perlstein et al, 2021). Therefore, the influence of parents and the quality of parent-child relationships on early CU traits warrants further consideration, especially regarding intervention approaches.…”

“…Regarding age, studies of adolescents and older children (e.g., 10 years and above) were more likely to find that high CU traits were associated with reduced emotional responsiveness than studies with younger children (Northam & Dadds, 2020). When examining the results of studies with adolescent/older child samples, peripheral physiological measures may consistently demonstrate an association of reduced responsiveness and high CU traits, regardless of whether it was measured at baseline (e.g., de Wied et al, 2012;Thomson & Centifanti, 2018), for activity (e.g., Fanti et al, 2016;Isen et al, 2010;Perlstein et al, 2021) and for reactivity (e.g., Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous & Warden, 2008;Dackis et al, 2015;Fanti et al, 2016;Kimonis et al, 2008Kimonis et al, , 2017Muñoz et al, 2008). Behavioral measures of emotional responsiveness are less consistent in studies investigating adolescents, with some showing negative associations (e.g., Hwang et al, 2016;Loney et al, 2003), while others showing no association (e.g., de Wied et al, 2012).…”

The moderating roles of peer pressure and family economic stress in the longitudinal links between adolescent trait anger and cyberbullying perpetration.

“…To provide a quantitative significance of the impacts of pressures on adolescent cyberbullying perpetration, the following questionnaires were dichotomized and used as grouping variables in multigroup analysis (Skoog & Kapetanovic, 2021). According to the suggestion of Perlstein et al (2022), the present study used mean split to dichotomize scores into high and low scores. The measurements of moderating factors were collected at T1.…”

Explaining the “parenting – callous-unemotional traits – antisocial behavior” axis in early adolescence: The role of affiliative reward

“…In contrast, no empirical studies currently exist to specifically test this hypothetical causal chain. Currently, three studies on early childhood exist with regard to affiliative behaviors in relation to parents, but not experienced reward (Domínguez-Álvarez et al, 2021;Perlstein et al, 2022;Waller et al, 2021). One study of early adolescents focuses on teacher-and peer-related affiliative reward, but uses a measure of peer popularity as a proxy for peer affiliation (Hwang et al, 2021), which may not directly reflect children's internal experiences of affiliative reward.…”