Few studies have assessed psychopathic traits in community samples of young people. We investigated the predictive utility of callous and unemotional traits in a representative sample of 5,770 young people from Great Britain. Teachers provided information on the presence of callous and unemotional traits and parents completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to determine the level a...

BACKGROUND Difficulties in appropriate social interaction are characteristic of both children with autism spectrum disorders and children with callous-unemotional traits (who are at risk of developing psychopathy). Extant experimental studies suggest that the nature of atypical social cognition that characterises these two profiles is not identical. However, 'empathizing' difficulties have been...

The presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits designates an important subgroup of antisocial youth. To improve upon existing measures, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) was developed to provide an efficient, reliable, and valid assessment of CU traits in samples of youth. The current study tests the factor structure and correlates of the ICU scale in a sample (n=248) of juveni...

OBJECTIVE Callous-unemotional behaviors in early childhood signal higher risk for trajectories of antisocial behavior and callous-unemotional traits that culminate in later diagnoses of conduct disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and psychopathy. Studies demonstrate high heritability of callous-unemotional traits, but little research has examined specific heritable pathways to early call...

BACKGROUND A Callous-Unemotional trait specifier (termed 'Limited Prosocial Emotions') was added to the diagnosis of conduct disorder in DSM-5. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) is a comprehensive measure of these traits assessing three distinct, yet correlated dimensions--Callousness, Uncaring, and Unemotional--all thought to reflect the general Callous-Unemotional construct. T...

BACKGROUND Negative parenting practices may be an environmental risk factor for subsequent conduct problems. Research on the association between parenting practices and callous-unemotional traits, a risk factor for conduct problems, has produced mixed findings. AIMS To investigate whether negative parental discipline is a non-shared environmental risk factor for the development of conduct pro...

This study investigated the interrelations among trauma exposure, emotional numbing, and callous-unemotional traits in a sample of 276 youth (68 girls and 208 boys) recruited from 2 juvenile detention centers. Youth completed interview measures of trauma exposure and betrayal trauma, as well as self-report measures of emotional numbing and callous-unemotional traits. Results of path analyses us...

BACKGROUND Although callous-unemotional (CU) traits have been associated with bullying among children and adolescents, relatively little is known about whether each of the three sub-constructs of CU traits-callous, uncaring, and unemotional-are associated with bullying when they are considered concurrently in the analysis. OBJECTIVE This study was the first to examine in a single model whethe...

Callous-unemotional traits have been incorporated into the DSM-5 and may be considered for the ICD-11. Despite the centrality of callous-unemotional traits, it is only one of three dimensions of child psychopathy. It is proposed that the grandiose-manipulative and daring-impulsive traits should be considered and potentially accepted as specifiers for conduct disorder in the DSM-5 and ICD-11.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits, such as lacking empathy and emotional insensitivity, predict the onset, severity, and persistence of antisocial behavior. CU traits are heritable, and genetic influences on CU traits contribute to antisocial behavior. This study examines genetic overlap between CU traits and general domains of personality. We measured CU traits using the Inventory of Callous-Une...