Poster #52 - The Development of Callous-Unemotional Traits: Violence Exposure and Cortisol Reactivity

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Developmental Psychopathology

Integrative Statement

Youth with callous-unemotional traits (e.g., lacking empathy or guilt, emotional insensitivity) are at an elevated risk for conduct problems, aggression, and delinquency (Frick, Cornell, Barry, Bodin, & Dane, 2003). However, little is known about the development of these traits. Callous-unemotional individuals are not as reactive to emotionally charged or threatening stimuli (Loney, Frick, Clements, Ellis, & Kerlin, 2003). This finding could be due to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis hypoactivity, which has been implicated as a biological risk factor for callous-unemotional traits (Hawes, Brennan, & Dadds, 2006). Additionally, childhood exposure to violence has been linked to delinquent outcomes and aggression, as well as disruptions in HPA axis functioning (Margolin & Gordis, 2004). Examining the interaction of stress biology and violence exposure may contribute to understanding the early origins of callous-unemotional traits. This study examines this question in children with prenatal substance exposure, who are often exposed to higher levels of life stress, including violence exposure (LaGasse, Seifer, & Lester, 1999).

Mother-infant dyads (n=1,388) were recruited at birth for a geographically diverse, multi-site project that examined the effects of prenatal substance exposure. A subset of 676 participants were included in the present analysis due to attrition over the first 12 years of the study. At 8 and 12 years of age children reported on their exposure to violence via the Things I Have Seen and Heard questionnaire (Richters & Martinez, 1993). Salivary cortisol was collected during a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test at 11 years of age (Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993). Caretakers reported on child’s callous-unemotional traits through completion of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (Frick & Hare, 2001) when the child was 12 years old.

Controlling for prenatal substance exposure, poverty, and violence exposure at age 12, regression analysis found that neither exposure to violence at 8 years or cortisol reactivity at 11 years were related to callous-unemotional traits at 12 years. However, a significant interaction was found between exposure to violence at 8 years and cortisol reactivity (b = .056, p = .004), as demonstrated in Figure 1. Simple slopes analyzed at ± 1SD indicated that children with the least reactive stress responses were highest on callous-unemotional traits, but only when exposed to the lowest levels of violence; the higher amounts of total violence these children were exposed to, the less callous-unemotional traits they possessed at age 12. Among children with more reactive stress responses, there was no significant effect on callous-unemotional trait outcomes.

The amount of stimulation provided by higher levels of violence exposure may be sufficient to evoke emotional responses from individuals with hyporeactive stress responses. This could result in lower levels of callous-unemotional traits; however, it is important to acknowledge that the detrimental effects of violence exposure are well-documented (Margolin & Gordis, 2004), so these children may be negatively impacted in other ways by high-stress environments. More research is needed to understand how psychobiological stress responses and violence exposure contribute to the development of callous-unemotional traits, particularly during developmentally sensitive time periods.

Authors

• Sarah Terrell, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Elisabeth Conradt, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brendan Ostlund, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author

• Linda LaGasse, Brown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Barry Lester, Brown University
  Non-Presenting Author