Parenting Is an Environmental Predictor of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Aggression: A Monozygotic Twin Differences Study

Abstract

Objective: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits increase risk for children developing severe childhood aggression and Conduct Disorder. CU traits are typically described as highly heritable and debate continues about whether the parenting environment matters in their etiology. Strong genetically-informed designs are needed to test for the presence of environmental links between parenting practices and CU traits. Our objective was to determine whether parental harshness and parental warmth were related to children’s aggression or CU traits when accounting for genetically-mediated effects. Method: We examined 227 monozygotic twin pairs (454 children) drawn from population-based and at-risk samples of twin families, leading to oversampling of twins living in poverty. We computed multi-informant difference scores combining mother and father reports of their harshness and warmth towards each twin, and differences in mother reports of each twin’s aggression and CU traits. Results: Twin differences in parental harshness were related to differences in both aggression and CU traits, such that the twin who received harsher parenting had higher aggression and more CU traits. Differences in parental warmth were uniquely related to differences in CU traits, such that the twin receiving warmer parenting evidenced lower CU traits. These effects were not moderated by child sex, age, or family income, with the exception that the relationship between differential parental harshness and differential child aggression was stronger among low-income families. Conclusion: Parenting is related to child CU traits and aggression, over and above genetically- mediated effects, with low parental warmth being a unique environmental correlate of CU traits.

Positive and negative parenting in conduct disorder with high versus low levels of callous–unemotional traits

“…Although less than for positive parenting, there is some evidence that negative parenting in young children is associated with the development of CU traits. As previously described (Waller et al, 2018) harsh parenting was associated with both aggression and CU traits in 6-10-year-old children.…”

“…Numerous studies have reported similar associations between low positive parenting and CD/HCU or CU traits (e.g., Pasalich et al, 2011;Ray et al, 2017;Elizur & Somech, 2018;Hyde et al, 2016;Pardini et al, 2007;Muratori et al, 2016;Waller et al, 2016;Waller et al, 2017a;Waller et al, 2017b;Waller et al, 2018;but c.f. Falk & Lee, 2012).…”

“…By contrast, positive parenting is generally inversely associated with conduct problem severity even at higher levels of CU traits, although this finding is most consistent when focusing on parental warmth rather than the more goal-directed positive parenting behaviours. Given previous findings (e.g., Waller et al, 2018), we hypothesised that youths with CD/HCU would be characterised by low levels of positive parenting as well as high levels of negative parenting, while youths with CD/LCU would be characterised mainly by high levels of negative parenting. Similarly, we predicted that parenting behaviours would distinguish both youths with CD/HCU and youths with CD/LCU from TD youths at above-chance levels in Angle-GMLVQ analyses.…”

Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Patterns in Persistent Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and in Association With Impulsive and Callous Traits

“…Both traits are normally distributed in the general population (Chamorro et al, 2012;Georgiev et al, 2013), and the extreme ends of their spectra are marked as maladaptive and pathological (McLennan, 2016). Both genes (Brikell et al, 2018;Moore et al, 2019) and the environment (Gescher et al, 2018;Waller et al, 2018) play important roles in the etiology of impulsive and callous traits.…”

Heritability of Bullying and Victimization in Children and Adolescents: Moderation by the KiVa Antibullying Program

“…With respect to bullying perpetration, less is known about the specific underlying heritable characteristics, but such could include, for example, callous-unemotional traits and/or conduct problems (Viding, Simmonds, Petrides, & Frederickson, 2009;. It is important to identify at-risk children early, and intervene not only in the school context but also by means of parenting programs (Waller, Hyde, Klump, & Burt, 2018). Further research is needed to identify specific heritable characteristics related to both the risk of victimization and bullying, especially victimization and bullying that persists after intervention efforts.…”