Psychopathic Traits in Childhood: Insights from Parental Warmth and Fearless Temperament via Conscience Development

Abstract

The role of psychopathic traits in predicting more serious and persistent patterns of child conduct problems has been well documented. The jointly presence of interpersonal (grandiose–deceitful), affective (e.g., callous–unemotional), and behavioral psychopathic traits (impulsive–need of stimulation) identifies a group of children at increased risk of psychosocial maladjustment. The present study aims to disentangle the underlying mechanisms by examining how early parenting (i.e., warmth) and child temperament (i.e., fearlessness) predict later psychopathic traits, via conscience development (CD). Data were collected in a large sample of children (n = 2.266; 48.5% girls), aged 3 to 6 at the onset of the study (Mage = 4.25; SD = 0.91), who were followed up one and two years later. The results showed direct effects from fearlessness to interpersonal and behavioral psychopathic traits. Parental warmth, fearless temperament, and their interaction, predicted CD, which, in turn, showed a negative effect on psychopathic traits. The indirect effects indicated significant negative mediation effects of warmth through CD on psychopathic traits, which seem to be stronger when children present lower levels of fearlessness. Overall, these results contribute to better understand the development of child psychopathic traits and provide additional insight on effective strategies that will help to restrain the potential development of a high-risk profile in early childhood.

Correlation of temperament characteristics and early functional exercise compliance in school-age children with limb fractures: Implication for clinical nursing care

“…Biological factors are innately determined and cannot be changed, while environmental factors are closely related to acquired interventions and educations. Studies [ 43 , 44 ] have shown that children’s temperament is genetically determined and influenced by environmental factors, it is difficult to distinguish between the 2. The nurses can communicate with the children’s family members and main caregivers to explain that the success of the operation is only the first step to the success of the disease.…”

Fearlessness as an Underlying Mechanism Leading to Conduct Problems: Testing the INTERFEAR Model in a Community Sample in Spain

“…This lower arousal also includes a reduction in the perception and sensitivity to fear signals from others, which may cause difficulties in learning empathy and guilt that, in turn, may cause socialization problems [9][10][11][12]. Thus, prosocial learning difficulties and insensitivity to punishment might lead children with a fearless temperament to seek out stimulating new situations, such as dangerous or antisocial behaviors that may increase the risk of developing CP [13][14][15][16][17].…”

Disruptive Behavior Disorders: Symptoms, Evaluation and Treatment

“…Previous evidence has shown how low parental warmth and fearlessness predict later psychopathic traits in children at increased risk of psychosocial maladjustment. The two-year follow-up study conducted by López-Romero and colleagues [ 4 ] on a very large cohort of preschoolers aged 3 to 6 years aimed to disentangle how these factors interact with each other to predict the later occurrence of psychopathic traits. Direct effects from fearlessness to interpersonal and behavioral psychopathic traits were identified, as well as a negative effect of parental warmth, fearless temperament, and their interaction on the development of individual conscience, which in turn mediated the indirect effect of these variables on psychopathic traits.…”

“… Colombia, Spain Universidad de la Costa, Universidad Europea de Madrid Article [ 3 ] Catone G, Almerico L, Pezzella A, Riccio MP, Bravaccio C, Bernardo P, Muratori P, Pascotto A, Pisano S, Senese VP. Italy Suor Orsola Benincasa University, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Federico II University, Santobono-Pausilipon Children Hospital, IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation Article [ 4 ] López-Romero L, Cutrín O, Maneiro L, Domínguez-Álvarez B, Romero E. Spain, Netherlands Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Leiden University Article [ 5 ] Smorti M, Inguaggiato E, Vezzosi L, Milone A. Italy University of Pisa, IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation Article [ 6 ] Marzilli E, Cerniglia L, Cimino S. Italy University of Rome “La Sapienza”, International Telematic University Uninettuno Article [ 7 ] Fantozzi P, Sesso G, Muratori P, Milone A, Masi G. Italy IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, University of Pisa Systematic Review [ 8 ] Balia C, Carucci S, Milone A, Romaniello R, Valente E, Donno F, Montesanto A, Brovedani P, Masi G, Glennon JC, Coghill D, Zuddas A, The Matrics Consortium.…”