Pathologic adaptation: examining an ecological pathway model of callous-unemotional traits

Although previous research indicates a robust association between adverse experiences early in life and later externalizing behaviors such as aggression, violence, and delinquency (Anda et al., 2006; Moylan et al., 2010), less is known about the early childhood environmental antecedents of later callous-unemotional traits. In fact, some studies have indicated that callous-unemotional traits are inherited and relatively impervious to environmental influences (Viding, Blair, Moffitt, & Plomin, 2005; Viding, Jones, Frick, Moffitt, & Plomin, 2008). However, a few studies have found conflicting results, in which some youth who exhibit callous-unemotional traits report more experiences with adversity, such as abuse and violence exposure, although these studies are often cross-sectional in nature and typically rely on retrospective self-report (Kimonis, Fanti, Isoma, & Donoghue, 2013; Kimonis, Frick, Munoz, & Aucoin, 2008). The proposed dissertation research examines the impact of environmental influences – including both risk and promotive factors – on the development of callous-unemotional traits. The research opens with three preliminary studies, two cross-sectional and one longitudinal, and concludes with a project that involves analyzing three large secondary longitudinal datasets. Data for the dissertation research come from: the serious youth violence and long term use of violent media project, funded by the CDC; the Longitudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), funded by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect; the National Institute of Child Health and Development’s (NICHD) Study on Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD; The NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2005); the Video Game Violence (VGV; Bushman, Huesmann, Boxer, Anderson, & Gentile, 2005) project also funded by NICHD; and the Pathways to Desistance (PTD; Mulvey, 2004; Mulvey, 2011) project initiated by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice. I first use the cross-sectional data in the serious youth violence project to establish that youth with callous-unemotional traits and anxiety retrospectively report greater levels of exposure to aggression and violence, and concurrently report greater symptoms of psychopathology and aggressive and violent behavior. I also provide evidence for construct validity of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits and how best to integrate information from multiple informants. Then, using the LONGSCAN data, I show that adolescents with conduct disorder who lack guilt, a core component of callous-unemotional traits, are more likely to have substantiated reports of maltreatment in childhood. For the final set of studies in this project, I incorporate analyses that take advantage of the longitudinal nature of these data to examine the antecedents to callous-unemotional traits. Specifically, I examine risk factors such as parental hostility and exposure to violence, as well as promotive factors such as neighborhood safety, friendship quality, and positive parenting characteristics. I hypothesize that youth exposed to key ecological risk factors will have greater tendencies to develop callous-unemotional traits, whereas youth exposed to theorized ecological promotive factors will be less likely to develop callous-unemotional traits. Finally, analyses will include person-level variables as potential moderators of these relationships, as it is possible that only youth with a fearful or inhibited temperament or who are high in emotional reactivity will be susceptible to these risk and promotive factors.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Meagan Dochert