Abstract
The link between callous-unemotional (CU) traits in youth and delinquent, aggressive and violent behavior is well-replicated in the literature. However, the mediating effects of violence exposure on this relationship are unclear. The current study addresses this important gap in the literature with a sample of 88 detained, primarily ethnic minority adolescent boys (M age = 15.57; SD = 1.28). Results indicate that exposure to violence fully mediated the relationship between CU traits and violent delinquency, and this pattern of mediation was accounted for by exposure to witnessed violence, but not direct violent victimization. Secondly, exposure to violence, both direct and witnessed forms, also mediated the relationship between CU traits and drug delinquency. These findings suggest that (a) the well-established link between CU traits and violence may be attributed to high rates of witnessed violence among this subpopulation, and (b) specific types of violence exposure may be important for predicting the offending patterns of youth high on CU traits. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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Notes
Although the primary aim was to examine the relationship between CU traits and delinquent outcomes, given prior literature suggesting that CU traits may develop as a consequence to violence exposure we also ran a reverse path model to test the possibility that CU traits mediated the association between violence exposure and delinquency. In this model we specified violence exposure as the IV and CU traits as the moderator. Results indicated mediation analyses were non-significant in this direction.
To differentiate the mediating effects of drug use relative to selling of drugs, we repeated the analysis removing SRD items tapping into selling drugs, thus limiting only to those items specifically involving drug use. Results held for full mediation of CU traits on drug use by direct victimization (indirect, β = 0.12, p < 0.05, Δ direct effect from β = 0.30 p < 0.05 in the first model to β = 0.10, p = 0.38 in the second), and were marginal for witnessing violence (indirect, β = 0.08, p = 0.07, Δ direct effect from β = 0.30 p < 0.05 in the first model to β = 0.10, p = 0.38 in the second).
To test whether the model was specific to CU traits and whether violence exposure accounts for the link between other types of antisocial/externalizing traits and violent delinquency, we re-ran a second mediation model substituting impulsivity for CU traits. Impulsivity was measured using the Antisocial Process Screening Device (Frick and Hare 2001). This alternative model did not reveal any significant effects. This suggests that violence exposure fully accounts for greater violent delinquency specifically among youth high on CU traits, who are at greater risk for antisocial outcomes due to weak moral development, but does not account for violent delinquency among youth with more general externalizing tendencies, namely disinhibition.
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Howard, A.L., Kimonis, E.R., Muñoz, L.C. et al. Violence Exposure Mediates the Relation Between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Offending Patterns in Adolescents. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40, 1237–1247 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9647-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9647-2