Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Do Callous–Unemotional Traits and Conduct Disorder Symptoms Predict the Onset and Development of Adolescent Substance Use?

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry & Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Despite strong evidence of the relationship between conduct disorder (CD) symptoms and substance use, it is unclear how callous–unemotional (CU) traits predict substance use over and above CD symptoms, and their potential interaction. This study used data from 753 participants followed from grade 7 to 2-years post-high school. Latent growth curve models showed that CU traits predicted the onset of cigarette use, alcohol misuse, and a substance use composite at grade 7 only when no CD symptoms were present. Among those without CD symptoms, boys showed greater change in the odds of using cigarettes, and were more likely to misuse alcohol or use any substance at grade 7 than girls. However, CD symptoms, CU traits, and their interaction did not predict the linear rates of growth of substance use over time. Thus, CU traits may uniquely predict adolescent substance use when CD symptoms are not present. This research has implications for predicting onset of adolescent substance use and for incorporating the assessment of CU traits into interventions targeting adolescent substance use.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Salom CL, Betts KS, Williams GM, Najman JM, Alati R (2016) Predictors of comorbid polysubstance use and mental health disorders in young adults—a latent class analysis. Addiction 111:156–164

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Wilcox HC, Conner KR, Caine ED (2004) Association of alcohol and drug use disorders and completed suicide: an empirical review of cohort studies. Drug Alcohol Depend 76:S11–S19

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Young R, Sweeting H, West P (2007) A longitudinal study of alcohol use and antisocial behavior in young people. Alcohol Alcohol 43:204–214

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Wu J, Witkiewitz K, McMahon RJ, Dodge KA, Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2010) A parallel process growth mixture model of conduct problems and substance use with risky sexual behavior. Drug Alcohol Depend 111:207–214

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Rehm J, Taylor B, Room R (2006) Global burden of disease from alcohol, illicit drugs and tobacco. Drug Alcohol Rev 25:503–513

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Johnston LD, O’Malley PM, Bachman JG, Schulenberg JE, Miech RA (2016) Monitoring the future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2015: volume 2, College students and adults ages 19–55. Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  7. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2013) Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: summary of national findings (NSDUH Series H-46, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 13-4795). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville

    Google Scholar 

  8. Schulenberg JE, Maggs JL (2002) A developmental perspective on alcohol use and heavy drinking during adolescence and the transition to young adulthood. J Stud Alcohol S14:54–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Duncan SC, Alpert A, Duncan TE, Hops H (1997) Adolescent alcohol use development and young adult outcomes. Drug Alcohol Depend 49:39–48

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Mason WA, Hitch JE, Kosterman R, McCarty CA, Herrenkohl TI, Hawkins JD (2010) Growth in adolescent delinquency and alcohol use in relation to young adult crime, alcohol use disorders, and risky sex: a comparison of youth from low- versus middle-income backgrounds. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 51:1377–1385

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Eaton DK, Kann L, Kinchen S, Shanklin S, Ross J, Hawkins J et al (2008) Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2007. Morb Mortal Rep 57:1–130

    Google Scholar 

  12. Merikangas KR, McClair VL (2012) Epidemiology of substance use disorders. Hum Genet 131:779–789

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Odgers CL, Caspi A, Nagin DS, Piquero AR, Slutske WS, Milne B et al (2008) Is it important to prevent early exposure to drugs and alcohol among adolescents? Psychol Sci 19:1037–1044

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Chassin L, Bountress K, Haller M, Wang F (2014) Adolescent substance use disorders. In: Mash EJ, Barkley RA (eds) Child psychopathology, 3rd edn. Guilford, New York, pp 180–221

    Google Scholar 

  15. Khoddam R, Jackson NJ, Leventhal AM (2016) Internalizing symptoms and conduct problems: redundant, incremental, or interactive risk factors for adolescent substance use during the first year of high school? Drug Alcohol Depend 169:48–55

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Frick PJ, Ray JV, Thornton LC, Kahn RE (2014) Can callous-unemotional traits enhance the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of serious conduct problems in children and adolescents? A comprehensive review. Psychol Bull 140:1–57

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Fontaine NM, McCrory EJP, Boivin M, Moffitt TE, Viding E (2011) Predictors and outcomes of joint trajectories of callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems in childhood. J Abnorm Psychol 120:730–742

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. McMahon RJ, Witkiewitz K, Kotler JS, Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2010) Predictive validity of callous-unemotional traits measured in early adolescence with respect to multiple antisocial outcomes. J Abnorm Psychol 119:752–763

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Frick PJ, White SF (2008) The importance of callous-unemotional traits for the development of aggressive and antisocial behavior. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 49:359–375

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Forsman M, Lichtenstein P, Andershed H, Larsson H (2010) A longitudinal twin study of the direction of effects between psychopathic personality and antisocial behavior. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 51:39–47

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Anderson SL, Zheng Y, McMahon R (2017) Predicting risky sexual behavior in adolescence and adulthood: the unique and interactive roles of childhood conduct disorder symptoms and callous-unemotional traits. J Abnorm Child Psychol 45:1147–1156

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Wymbs BT, McCarty CA, Baer JS, King KM, Vander Stoep A, McCauley E (2013) Callous-unemotional traits and conduct disorder symptoms as prospective risk factors for adolescent sexual activity. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 42:693–699

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Andershed H, Gustafson SB, Kerr M, Stattin H (2002) The usefulness of self-reported psychopathy-like traits in the study of antisocial behavior among non-referred adolescents. Eur J of Pers 16:383–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Loney BR, Taylor J, Butler MA, Iacono WG (2007) Adolescent psychopathy features: 6-year temporal stability and the prediction of externalizing symptoms during the transition to adulthood. Aggress Behav 33:242–252

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Andershed H, Köhler D, Louden JE, Hinrichs G (2008) Does the three-factor model of psychopathy identify a problematic subgroup of young offenders? Int J Law Psychiatry 31:189–198

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Hillege S, Das J, de Ruiter C (2010) The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory: psychometric properties and its relation to substance use and interpersonal style in a Dutch sample of non-referred adolescents. J Adolesc 33:83–91

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Ray JV, Thornton LC, Frick PJ, Steinberg L, Cauffman E (2016) Impulse control and callous-unemotional traits distinguish patterns of delinquency and substance use in justice involved adolescents: examining the moderating role of neighborhood context. J Abnor Child Psychol 44:599–611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Essau CA, Sasagawa S, Frick PJ (2006) Callous-unemotional traits in a community sample of adolescents. Assessment 13:454–469

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Byck GR, Swann G, Schalet B, Bolland J, Mustanski B (2015) Sensation seeking predicting growth in adolescent problem behaviors. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 46:466–473

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Frick PJ, Cornell AH, Barry CT, Bodin SD, Dane HA (2003) Callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems in the prediction of conduct problem severity, aggression, and self-report of delinquency. J Abnorm Child Psychol 31:457–470

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Wymbs BT, McCarty CA, King KM, McCauley E, Vander Stoep A, Baer JS, Waschbusch DA (2012) Callous-unemotional traits as unique prospective risk factors for substance use in early adolescent boys and girls. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40:1099–1110

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Fanti KA (2013) Individual, social, and behavioral factors associated with co-occurring conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits. J Abnorm Child Psychol 41:811–824

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Baskin-Sommers AR, Waller R, Fish AM, Hyde LW (2015) Callous-unemotional traits trajectories interact with earlier conduct problems and executive control to predict violence and substance use among high risk male adolescents. J Abnorm Child Psychol 43:1529–1541

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1992) A developmental and clinical model for the prevention of conduct disorders: the FAST Track program. Dev Psychopathol 4:509–527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2000) Merging universal and indicated prevention programs: the Fast Track model. Addict Behav 25:913–927

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Werthamer-Larsson L, Kellam SG, Wheeler L (1991) Effect of first grade classroom environment on shy behavior, aggressive behavior, and concentration problems. Am J Community Psychol 19:585–602

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Achenbach TM (1991) Manual for the child behavior checklist/4-18 and 1991 profile. University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry, Burlington

    Google Scholar 

  38. Jones D, Dodge KA, Foster EM, Nix R, Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2002) Early identification of children at risk for costly mental health service use. Prev Sci 3:247–256

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Hollingshead AA (1979) Four-factor index of social status. Unpublished manuscript. Yale University, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  40. Frick PJ, Hare RD (2001) The antisocial process screening device (APSD). Multi-Health Systems, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  41. Shaffer D, Fisher P, Lucas CP, Dulcan MK, Schwab-Stone ME (2000) NIMH diagnostic interview schedule for children version IV (NIMH DISC-IV): description, differences from previous versions, and reliability of some common diagnoses. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 39:28–38

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (2002) National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort, 1997–2001. Produced by the National Opinion Research Center, the University of Chicago and distributed by the Center for Human Resource Research, the Ohio State University

  43. IBM Corp (2013) IBM SPSS statistics for windows, version 22.0. IBM Corp, Armonk

    Google Scholar 

  44. Muthén LK, Muthén BO (1998–2012) Mplus user’s guide, 7th edn. Muthen & Muthen, Los Angeles

  45. Little RJA, Rubin DB (2002) Statistical analysis with missing data, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  46. Masyn KE, Petras H, Liu W (2014) Growth curve models with categorical outcomes. In: Bruinsma G, Weisburd D (eds) Encyclopedia of criminology and criminal justice. Springer, New York, pp 2013–2025

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  47. Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2014) Trajectories of risk for early sexual activity and early substance use in the Fast Track prevention program. Prev Sci 15:S33–S46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Kaplow JB, Curran PJ, Dodge KA, Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (2002) Child, parent, and peer predictors of early-onset substance use: a multisite longitudinal study. J Abnorm Child Psychol 30:199–216

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  49. Young SE, Corley RP, Stallings MC, Rhee SH, Crowley TJ, Hewitt JK (2002) Substance use, abuse and dependence in adolescence: prevalence, symptom profiles and correlates. Drug Alcohol Depend 68:309–322

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Frick PJ (2004) The inventory of callous-unemotional traits. Unpublished rating scale. University of New Orleans, New Orleans

    Google Scholar 

  51. Kimonis ER, Frick PJ, Skeem J. Marsee MA, Cruise K, Muñoz LC, Morris AS (2008) Assessing callous-unemotional traits in adolescent offenders: validation of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits. J Int Assoc Psychiatry Law 31:241–252

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work used data from the Fast Track project (for additional information concerning Fast Track, see http://www.fasttrackproject.org). We are grateful for the collaboration of the Durham Public Schools, the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, the Bellefonte Area Schools, the Tyrone Area Schools, the Mifflin County Schools, the Highline Public Schools, and the Seattle Public Schools. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the many staff members who implemented the project, collected the evaluation data, and assisted with data management and analyses. We are grateful to the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (Karen L. Bierman, John D. Coie, Kenneth A. Dodge, Mark T. Greenberg, John E. Lochman, Robert J. McMahon, and Ellen E. Pinderhughes) for providing the data and for additional involvement. This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grants R18 MH48043, R18 MH50951, R18 MH50952, R18 MH50953, K05MH00797, and K05MH01027; National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Grants DA016903, K05DA15226, and P30DA023026; and Department of Education Grant S184U30002. The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention also provided support through a memorandum of agreement with the NIMH. Additional support for the preparation of this work was provided by a LEEF B.C. Leadership Chair award, Child & Family Research Institute Investigator Salary and Investigator Establishment Awards, and a Canada Foundation for Innovation award to Robert J. McMahon.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Institute for the Reduction of Youth Violence, Simon Fraser University, RCB 7220.1, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada

    Sarah L. Anderson & Robert J. McMahon

  2. B. C. Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Sarah L. Anderson & Robert J. McMahon

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Yao Zheng

Authors
  1. Sarah L. Anderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yao Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Robert J. McMahon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sarah L. Anderson.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Anderson, S.L., Zheng, Y. & McMahon, R.J. Do Callous–Unemotional Traits and Conduct Disorder Symptoms Predict the Onset and Development of Adolescent Substance Use?. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 49, 688–698 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-018-0789-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-018-0789-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation