Emergence of conduct problems in young children in Colombia: are there general and culture specific processes?

Conduct problems (CPs) in young children have been widely studied but mainly in ‘High Income’ Countries (HICs) raising the question of whether the processes are the same in ‘Low and Middle-Income’ Countries (LMICs). This PhD study was conducted in Colombia, a LMIC historically conflict affected. Its aims were to identify whether there are general and culture�specific processes regarding the role of Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits -characterised by disregard for others and lack of empathy- in relation to CPs, and to examine the role of parenting in relation to CU traits in the context of exposure to community violence. I established the La Sabana Parent-child Study with 235 children at ages 3.5 years from three Colombian regions and assessed them via parent report and observations of parents and children in standard play and tidy-up procedures. Measurement paralleled that of the UK Wirral Child Health and Development Study to allow for cross-cultural analyses. I reassessed 220 (93.6%) at age 5 years. The main findings reported in the four papers presented here are: 1) Commonly used measures of CU traits (ICU - Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits) and parenting (Alabama Parenting Questionnaire) have similar psychometric properties in this sample as in HIC samples and show predicted patterns of association (Paper 1). The ICU is valid as evidenced in incremental prediction of later aggression (Paper 2). 2) In a novel finding for HIC and LMIC research, prediction from CU traits at age 3.5 to aggression at age 5 was substantially greater in the presence of pre-existing aggression suggesting a synergistic effect and replicated across Colombian and UK samples (Paper 2). 3) Vulnerability for later aggression created by CU traits is ameliorated by maternal praise and positivity (Paper 3). 4) Children’s exposure to community violence is associated with elevated CU traits at age 5, but only among mothers with low levels of positivity at age 3.5 (Paper 4). In conclusion, CU traits is a valid construct in a sample of young children from a LMIC and have a role in the maintenance and amplification of early aggression. Also, positive parenting has a protective role in the interplay between aggression and CU traits and in the association between community violence and CU traits. The novel finding Diana Paola Obando Posada ©University of Reading 2021sábado, 18 septiembre 2021 Page 13 that most, and perhaps all, of the effect of CU traits on young children’s aggression, is confined to those who are already aggressive, requires replication and further investigation. Further research about the role of parenting on CPs and CU traits must involve additional parenting dimensions to identify those of relevance in children immersed in contexts with differential features, as well as work on the relative importance of positive and negative parenting in CU traits