Poster #88 - Exploring Patterns of Affiliation Underlying Callous-Unemotional Traits in Early Childhood Utilizing a Novel Computerized Assessment.

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Children’s affiliative preferences and motivations (APMs) refer to the variation in engagement in and enjoyment of social interaction (Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005), and they contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying children’s social and emotional development (Deater-Deckard, 2001; Waller & Wagner, 2019). Theory and research suggest that reduced APMs may play an important role in the emergence and stability of callous-unemotional (CU) traits, a constellation of interpersonal and affective deficits which predict severe and stable patterns of aggressive behaviors across childhood (Waller & Wagner, 2019). Characterizing variation in APMs is an important step to better understanding the etiology of CU traits. However, very few tasks assess individual differences in children’s affiliation using behavioral responses, instead prior research heavy relies on parents’ reports or costly and time-consuming observational approaches. The current study advances research in this area by using a newly-designed task-based assessment of children’s AMPs to examine the links between AMPs and CU traits, and whether the context of affiliation (e.g., goal-directed, associative, or active) moderates these associations.
Informed by existing measures of children’s social decision-making, the Child Affiliative Motivations and Preferences (CAMP) task leverages a novel, child-directed digital storybook design to assess children’s affiliative preferences across theoretically-relevant peer contexts. Children are presented with contexts of familiar activities (Figure 1) and asked to select how they would prefer to engage in the activity from three options: alone, with a peer, or with a group (Figure 2). These activities are categorized as goal-directed (e.g., doing a puzzle and building a fort), associative (e.g., eating lunch at school), and active (e.g., playing on a jungle gym), wherein activities could be successfully completed independently, but the external benefits to completing some tasks with others might vary. Data collection with 3-year-old children is ongoing through an online Zoom “visit” in which children complete the CAMP task and parents complete a series of questionnaires, including the Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits (Frick, 2004), the Child Social Preference Scale (Coplan et al., 2004) (current N=7; target N=120; planned completion by end of 2022). Analyses will assess whether response patterns differ between children who display high versus low CU traits, and whether these patterns are differentially associated with CU traits versus behavioral inhibition, a temperamental trait associated with fear of novelty and an early risk factor for social anxiety. Consistent with existing research examining the associations between CU traits and goal-oriented or reward-driven behaviors (Fanti et al., 2009), we hypothesize that children with high levels of CU traits will show a preference for solitary play in contexts where there is likely no benefit from group collaboration but will choose to affiliate with others in goal-directed contexts in which there may be some benefit to engaging in a task with others. We hypothesize that children scoring higher on a measure of inhibition will choose the solitary choice regardless of context. Utilizing this novel measure will extend our understanding of the affiliative differences that are hypothesized to underpin the development and maintenance of CU traits in early childhood.

Authors

• Sarah Lynch, Boston University
  Presenting Author

• Yuheiry Rodriguez, University of Pennsylvania

• Rista Plate, University of Pennsylvania

• Rebecca Waller, University of Pennsylvania

• Nicholas James Wagner, Boston University