L.C.M. Centifanti
Callous-Unemotional Traits and Impulsivity: Distinct Longitudinal Relations With Mind-Mindedness and Understanding of Others
Centifanti, L.C.M.; Meins, E.; Fernyhough, C.
Abstract
Background: Problems in understanding other people’s mental states may relate to distinct personality traits that are associated with early externalizing behavior. A distinction between theory of mind (ToM) and empathy has proven important in shedding light on the problems in understanding other minds encountered by children high on callousunemotional (CU) traits and exhibiting impulsivity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether children’s early ToM and emotion understanding abilities predicted CU traits and impulsivity at age 10. A further aim was to explore whether the quality of the parent–child relationship very early in the development indirectly or directly predicted the children’s CU traits and impulsivity. Method: We examined whether ToM and empathy skills might differentially relate to personality traits associated with externalizing behaviors (i.e., impulsivity and CU traits). We examined these relations over time in a longitudinal cohort of 96 boys and girls using follow-back analyses, incorporating measures of maternal mind-mindedness (appropriate mind-related talk) to examine the possible role of parent–child interaction quality. Results: Appropriate mind-related talk indirectly predicted CU traits (at age 10 years) via its effect on children’s emotion understanding. ToM predicted impulsive/irresponsible traits, but ceased to be significant when controlling for externalizing behaviors. Conclusion: The present findings demonstrate that parents who remark appropriately on their infant’s mental states may help the child to understand emotions and may mold an empathic understanding of others, thereby preventing CU traits.
Citation
Centifanti, L., Meins, E., & Fernyhough, C. (2016). Callous-Unemotional Traits and Impulsivity: Distinct Longitudinal Relations With Mind-Mindedness and Understanding of Others. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(1), 84-92. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12445
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Jun 8, 2015 |
Online Publication Date | Jul 14, 2015 |
Publication Date | Jan 1, 2016 |
Deposit Date | Jun 10, 2015 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 15, 2015 |
Journal | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry |
Print ISSN | 0021-9630 |
Electronic ISSN | 1469-7610 |
Publisher | Wiley |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 57 |
Issue | 1 |
Pages | 84-92 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12445 |
Keywords | Emotion understanding, Callous-unemotional traits, Theory of mind, Mind-mindedness, Longitudinal. |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1427146 |
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© 2015 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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