Using a Single Item to Assess Callous-unemotional Traits

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

Adolescents with callous-unemotional (CU) traits – in other words, who lack guilt, empathy, concern, or remorse – tend to engage in more serious and stable violent and delinquent behavior (Frick & White, 2008). Thus it is critical that criminal justice researchers have access to reliable, valid, and practical measures of CU traits. Recent studies have reported on the utility of a variety of youth CU trait measures (see Collins et al., 2016). Yet no study has determined whether a single item can serve as a marker for callousness and unemotionality. We examined relations between a single item assessing caregiver- and youth-reported lack of guilt, and measures of violent and antisocial behavior in a sample of 421 justice-involved adolescents. Youth who report a lack of guilt are more likely to be involved in a gang (p=.022) and more likely to report engaging in violent and delinquent behavior (p<.001). Caregiver-reported lack of guilt is associated with both parent- and youth-reported violent and delinquent behavior (p<.001). Models included demographic indicators and same-informant measures as covariates. Results indicate that a single item can be used to assess callousness, with clear implications for large-scale survey studies of youth violence and delinquency.

Authors

• Meagan Docherty, Arizona State University

• Paul Boxer, Rutgers University

• Jennifer Irving, Rutgers University

• Sekinat Kuku, Rutgers University

• Rushabh Shah, Rutgers University

• Joanna Kubik, Rutgers University