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Child / Adolescent - Externalizing

Associations between Callous-Unemotional (CU) Traits, Conduct Problems, and Age on Emotional Recognition Abilities in School Children

(PS4-B28) Associations Between Callous-unemotional (CU) Traits, Conduct Problems, and Age on Emotional Recognition Abilities in School Children

Friday, November 17, 2023

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PST

Location: Regency Ballroom, Level 7

Author(s)

Emily Kemp, M.A.

Doctoral Candidate
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Co-Author(s)

JC

Julia Clark, M.A., Ph.D.

Clinical Psychologist
Austin Anxiety and OCD Specialists
Austin, Texas
TM

Tatiana M. Matlasz, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
PF

Paul Frick, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with an increased risk for more persistent and severe conduct problems in youth. Causal theories for CU traits focus on developmental deficits in empathy and emotional processing. Specifically, CU traits are consistently correlated with under-reactivity to others’ distress (e.g., displays of fear, sadness), but the relationship between CU traits and the ability to accurately identify others’ emotions is not well established. Emerging work has begun to consider developmental changes in this relationship, with the hypothesis that young children with elevated CU traits show emotional recognition deficits due to the absence of reactivity that motivates the development of these skills. However, these deficits may dissipate in middle to late childhood, as youth become motivated to learn emotional recognition skills due to their functional social values. The current study tested key predictions from this theory in a school-based community sample of youth ranging from 5 to 16 (M = 11, SD = 3) years of age. Youth completed a computer-based task to assess accuracy in facial expression recognition, while their teachers completed ratings of CU traits and conduct problems. Regarding the accurate recognition of fearful facial expressions, CU traits were not significantly directly associated with recognition accuracy. However, conduct problems were found to significantly moderate the relationship between CU traits and recognition accuracy (B = -.11, SE = .005, p = .021) such that the relationship between CU traits and recognition deficits was stronger at high levels of conduct problems. Further, a non-significant interaction was found in the expected direction for CU traits and age on accuracy of fear recognition (B = .002, SE = .002, p = .136) such that the relationship between CU traits and recognition deficits was stronger in young children. These results support the clinical importance of considering emotional recognition skills as a developmental factor in the presence of elevated CU traits and conduct problems and examining this relationship over time.