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Early Callous-Unemotional Behavior, Theory-of-Mind, and a Fearful/Inhibited Temperament Predict Externalizing Problems in Middle and Late Childhood

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Abstract

Childhood externalizing problems are more likely to be severe and persistent when combined with high levels of callous-unemotional (CU) behavior. A handful of recent studies have shown that CU behavior can also be reliably measured in the early preschool years, which may help to identify young children who are less likely to desist from early externalizing behaviors. The current study extends previous literature by examining the role of CU behavior in very early childhood in the prediction of externalizing problems in both middle and late childhood, and tests whether other relevant child characteristics, including Theory-of-Mind (ToM) and fearful/inhibited temperament moderate these pathways. Multi-method data, including parent reports of child CU behavior and fearful/inhibited temperament, observations of ToM, and teacher-reported externalizing problems were drawn from a prospective, longitudinal study of children assessed at ages 3, 6, and 10 (N = 241; 48 % female). Results demonstrated that high levels of CU behavior predicted externalizing problems at ages 6 and 10 over and above the effect of earlier externalizing problems at age 3, but that these main effects were qualified by two interactions. High CU behavior was related to higher levels of externalizing problems specifically for children with low ToM and a low fearful/inhibited temperament. The results show that a multitude of child characteristics likely interact across development to increase or buffer risk for child externalizing problems. These findings can inform the development of targeted early prevention and intervention for children with high CU behavior.

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Notes

  1. We chose to explore ToM as a moderator of the relationship between CU behavior and later externalizing problems. However, we acknowledge that an alternative conceptualization of these models is to consider CU behavior as the moderator. In this case, when probing the interaction term, we find a trend-level negative effect of ToM at age 3 on later externalizing problems at age 6 only when children had high levels of CU behavior, b = −0.77 (0.39), t = −1.97, p < 0.10, but not when they had low levels of CU behavior, b = 0.27 (0.27), t = 0.99, ns. While interesting to consider CU behavior as a moderator, especially to explain the inconsistent findings that have been reported by studies examining the relationship between ToM and later externalizing problems (Hughes et al. 2000; Olson et al. 2011), we note that our goal was to examine early CU behavior as a predictor and the potential emotional and cognitive moderating factors that influenced the strength of its relationship with later externalizing problems.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grant #R01MH57489 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Sheryl L. Olson. We are very grateful to the children, parents, teachers, and preschool administrators who participated, and to the many individuals who helped with data collection and management. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Some findings reported in full here were presented at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) in Philadelphia, PA, USA in March 2015.

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  1. Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Ju-Hyun Song

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Rebecca Waller

  3. Department of Psychology, Center for Human Growth and Development, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Luke W. Hyde & Sheryl L. Olson

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Song, JH., Waller, R., Hyde, L.W. et al. Early Callous-Unemotional Behavior, Theory-of-Mind, and a Fearful/Inhibited Temperament Predict Externalizing Problems in Middle and Late Childhood. J Abnorm Child Psychol 44, 1205–1215 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0099-3

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