Maltreatment Profiles Among Incarcerated Boys With Callous-Unemotional Traits

Abstract

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits in youth are believed to be a developmental precursor to adult psychopathy, tapping its affective dimension. There is growing support for the existence of variants of psychopathy that can be distinguished based on the presence of anxiety, maltreatment histories, and comorbid psychopathology. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether primary and secondary variants of CU traits could be differentiated according to their experiences of distinct types of childhood maltreatment among a sample of 227 incarcerated adolescent boys. Results indicated that variants of youth scoring high on CU traits could be identified which were consistent with theory and prior research. Greater sexual abuse histories, violent and property delinquency, and a sexually motivated index offense distinguished secondary variants, whereas greater neglect distinguished primary variants of youth with CU traits. Psychopathy variants were behaviorally indistinguishable with respect to their levels of aggression and drug delinquency, although they differed in several important ways from youth scoring low on CU traits. Variants also showed distinct patterns of scores on the measure of CU traits. These findings are important to informing developmental theories of psychopathy and have practical and policy implications for intervening with maltreated and antisocial youth.

High-Quality Foster Care Mitigates Callous-Unemotional Traits Following Early Deprivation in Boys: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Nevertheless, psychosocial deprivation has been found by others to be associated with psychopathy or CU traits in a number of populations. 6,26–28 Thus, our findings are consistent with other work demonstrating psychosocial deprivation as a risk factor for CU traits, but also extend previous research through the use of an RCT to causally examine the effect of a high-quality foster care intervention on CU traits.…”

“…4 The development of CU traits has been linked to both genetic and environmental risk factors. 5,6 Exposure to early-life psychosocial deprivation (neglect), in particular, is postulated as 1 pathway to the development of CU traits and psychopathy, as the lack of an available and responsive caregiver early in life may disrupt experience-expectant socialization processes related to emotional empathy development. 7–9 …”

5 High-Quality Foster Care Mitigates Callous-Unemotional Traits Following Early Deprivation in Boys: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Nevertheless, psychosocial deprivation has been found by others to be associated with psychopathy or CU traits in a number of populations. 6,[26][27][28] Thus, our findings are consistent with other work demonstrating psychosocial deprivation as a risk factor for CU traits, but also extend previous research through the use of an RCT to causally examine the effect of a high-quality foster care intervention on CU traits.…”

“…4 The development of CU traits has been linked to both genetic and environmental risk factors. 5,6 Exposure to early-life psychosocial deprivation (neglect), in particular, is postulated as 1 pathway to the development of CU traits and psychopathy, as the lack of an available and responsive caregiver early in life may disrupt experience-expectant socialization processes related to emotional empathy development. [7][8][9] The challenges that CU traits and psychopathy pose for intervention 3 and the enormous societal costs associated with antisocial behavior make it imperative to develop strategies for preventing the onset of CU traits in those at increased risk.…”

Clarifying the link between childhood abuse history and psychopathic traits in adult criminal offenders.

“…While physical abuse has frequently been linked to externalizing behaviors (Lansford, et al, 2007), sexual and emotional abuses have greater associations with depression, suicidality, and dissociation (Kisiel & Lyons, 2014; Plunkett et al, 2001; Shapero et al, 2014). Less is known about the long-term consequences of childhood neglect, but there is evidence that emotional neglect, specifically, relates to blunted affective expression, such as alexithymia and the unemotional features of psychopathy (Aust, Härtwig, Heuser, & Bajbouj, 2013; Kimonis, Fanti, Isoma, & Donoghue, 2013). As such, it is possible that emotional neglect is a unique risk factor for the development of psychopathic traits, whereas sexual and emotional abuse are more related to ASPD, which has high rates of comorbidity with internalizing symptoms and suicidality (Verona, Patrick, & Joiner, 2001).…”