Examining Sex Differences in the Longitudinal Relations Between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Social Problems Across Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits encompass a unique subset of affective and interpersonal deficits, including diminished affect, lack of empathy, and a tendency to engage in antisocial behaviors (Frick et al., 2014). Children and adolescents with CU traits are at increased risk for later conduct disorders and psychopathy, likely stemming from, in part, very early deficits in affiliative and emotional processes (Waller & Wagner, 2019). Infant studies have implicated decreased attention to emotional faces (Peltola et al., 2018) and impaired affective reactivity (Wagner et al., 2016) in the etiology of CU traits, both of which hold critical developmental importance for forming social bonds. Such deficits appear to have long-term impacts on social navigation in childhood and adolescence, with research linking CU traits with diminished social competence (Haas et al., 2018), increased peer rejection (Barker & Salekin, 2012), deviant peer affiliation (Kimonis et al., 2004), and poorer quality friendships (Miron et al., 2020). Although accumulating research indicates that early socio-affiliative correlates of CU traits may undermine the formation of close social bonds, no studies have examined these links longitudinally across early and middle childhood.
Emerging evidence also suggests that the processes implicated in the relations between CU traits and social problems may vary for males and females. Research shows that males with CU traits are more likely to engage in physically aggressive (Stickle et al., 2012) and disruptive behaviors (Essau et al., 2006) in childhood and adolescence. In contrast, females with CU traits appear to exhibit more emotional adjustment problems (Charles et al., 2012), internalizing symptoms (Essau et al., 2006), and relational aggression (Stickle et al., 2012) than males. However, very little is known about the longitudinal associations between CU traits and later social problems in early childhood, nor whether the consequences of CU traits for later social problems vary by sex.
The current study used data from a longitudinal study of 96 children followed from age 4 to age 8 years to address these gaps in the literature. Results from saturated path models using full information likelihood estimation indicated that both CU traits and conduct problems (CP) at age 4 significantly predicted children’s social problems at age 8, β= 0.319, p = 0.014 and β =0.325, p = 0.022, respectively. However, multiple group analyses revealed distinct gender differences in pathways to later social problems, with CU traits uniquely predicting social problems for girls, β =0.293, p =0.013, and CP predicting social problems for both boys, β =0.42, p = 0.032 and girls, β= 0.306, p = 0.042. Findings expand upon extant literature examining age and gender-related correlates of CU traits, and provide evidence that early emotional deficits may result in divergent social outcomes as a function of children’s sex. Findings will be interpreted in the context of violations of gender-normative social expectations and gender-specific peer group structures as critical components of targeted early interventions to facilitate socio-emotional adjustment in young children.

Authors

• Deaven Winebrake, Boston University
  Presenting Author

• Nicholas James Wagner, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Paul David Hastings, University of California - Davis
  Non-Presenting Author