3-186 - Callous-unemotional behaviors and conduct problems in samples of preschoolers: Investigating the associations with parents

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Callous-unemotionnal (CU) behaviors, which are characterized by a lack of empathy and guilt and a shallow affect, are predictive of severe and persistent antisocial behavior (Frick et al., 2014). To date, most of the research on CU behaviors in youth has focused on school-age children and adolescents. Studying CU behaviors in preschoolers has the potential to benefit early identification of at-risk children for preventive interventions.
This symposium will aim to examine CU behaviors and conduct problems and their associations with parental factors in preschool-age children from Australia, Canada, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. The first presentation will focus on the association between children’s attachment patterns and CU behaviors. The second presentation will examine whether conduct problems and CU behaviors are associated with chaos in the home as well as negative and positive parental feelings. The third presentation will examine whether anxiety exerts a moderating role on the association between CU behaviors and post-treatment children’s conduct problems following a parent training intervention. The fourth presentation will explore the moderating role of CU behaviors on parental self-efficacy beliefs and emotional coaching practices, variables manipulated in a micro-trial parenting intervention.
We will discuss implications of the findings for prevention and intervention strategies for families with young children at-risk of developing CU behaviors and severe conduct problems.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Chair

• Laurie Loop, University of Louvain

Individual Presentations

• Who disorganises whom? Attachment development in children with callous-unemotional traits - Presenting Author: Antonio Mendoza, University of Sydney

• Conduct problems and callous-unemotional behaviors: Associations with chaos in the home and parental feelings - Presenting Author: Nathalie Fontaine, University of Montreal

• Young Children with Callous-unemotional Traits and Anxiety: Examining Differential Responsivity to a Parent Training Intervention - Presenting Author: Jennifer Leigh Allen, UCL Institute of Education; Sara Dawson, Institute of Psychiatry, and National Academy for Parenting Research, Kings College London London, UK; Kim McGregor, Institute of Psychiatry, and National Academy for Parenting Research, Kings College London London, UK

• The moderating role of callous-unemotional behaviors on the effects of parenting interventions - Presenting Author: Marie Stiévenart, University of Liege; Laurie Loop, University of Louvain; Benedicte Mouton, University of Louvain; Isabelle Roskam, Université catholique de Louvain