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Using the ASEBA to Screen for Callous Unemotional Traits in Early Childhood: Factor Structure, Temporal Stability, and Utility

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Abstract

This study evaluated a five-item screening measure of Callous Unemotional (CU) traits using items drawn from the Preschool Form of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA). Using data from the Durham Child Health and Development study (N = 178), confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that CU items could be distinguished from Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant (ODD) items. The two-year stability (N = 137) of CU (ϕ = .84) was comparable to that of ADHD (ϕ = .79) and ODD (ϕ = .69). Three groups of children were selected based on parent-rated ODD and CU behaviors at the 36-month assessment (N = 37; ODD+CU, N = 7; ODD-only, N = 12; non-ODD, N = 18). Multiple measures of infant temperament predicted group membership with 84% accuracy. Consistent with Frick and Morris’ (Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 33(1):54–68, 2004) hypotheses, ODD+CU and ODD-only children exhibited temperamental profiles in infancy that were consistent with low fear and emotionally dysregulated pathways into conduct problems, respectively.

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Notes

  1. The reduction in participants reflected a ‘gap’ period in funding for the study.

  2. In order to ensure that all cases were included for prediction, group mean substitution was used to address the very low rates of missing data (i.e., one child in the ODD+CU group had missing values on FFSFP affect; three children in the ODD-only had missing cardiac data; three children in the non-ODD group had missing cardiac data and five had missing FFSFP affect).

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by The North Carolina Child Development Research Collaborative, which is funded by the National Science Foundation through a Children’s Research Initiative grant #BCS-0126475. The authors would like to thank all of the parents who participated in the Durham Child Health and Development Study and the research assistants for their valuable help in collecting these data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8185, 521 South Greensboro Street, Carrboro, NC, 27510, USA

    Michael T. Willoughby

  2. Department of Psychology, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Daniel A. Waschbusch

  3. Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Ginger A. Moore

  4. Center for Developmental Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Cathi B. Propper

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  1. Michael T. Willoughby
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Willoughby, M.T., Waschbusch, D.A., Moore, G.A. et al. Using the ASEBA to Screen for Callous Unemotional Traits in Early Childhood: Factor Structure, Temporal Stability, and Utility. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 33, 19–30 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-010-9195-4

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