Abstract
Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are one meaningful risk factor which helps to explain heterogeneity in the emergence of externalizing behavior problems. While the extant literature demonstrates links between early CU traits and later externalizing problems, there is a dearth of research examining for whom early CU traits confer risk. Data from a longitudinal study (n = 108) were used to examine the extent to which parasympathetic functioning moderated links between CU traits in toddlerhood (m age = 24.99 months) and externalizing behavior problems at preschool-age (m age = 51 months). Neither CU traits nor parasympathetic functioning at age 2 directly predicted later externalizing behaviors. However, results show that high levels of CU traits predict elevated externalizing behavior problems, but only for toddlers exhibiting either high baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) or little to no RSA suppression in response to a fear stimulus.
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Notes
Results excluding covariates were largely unchanged from those reported in the manuscript, with CU x RSA and CU x RSA suppression significantly predicting externalizing, β = 0.26, p < 0.05 and β = −0.28, p < 0.05, respectively, compared to β = 0.29, p < 0.05 and β = −0.24, p < 0.05, respectively.
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The research reported in this manuscript was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to Kenneth H. Rubin. Preparation of the manuscript was supported by Grant R01 MH103253 from the National Institutes of Health to Rubin.
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Wagner, N.J., Hastings, P.D. & Rubin, K.H. Callous-Unemotional Traits and Autonomic Functioning in Toddlerhood Interact to Predict Externalizing Behaviors in Preschool. J Abnorm Child Psychol 46, 1439–1450 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0374-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0374-6