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Can a Laboratory Measure of Emotional Processing Enhance the Statistical Prediction of Aggression and Delinquency in Detained Adolescents with Callous-unemotional Traits?

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Abstract

In this cross-sectional study, we investigated whether the combination of the presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits and emotional deficits to distressing stimuli, assessed by a computerized dot-probe task, enhanced the statistical prediction of aggression and delinquency in a sample of 88 detained and predominantly African-American (68%) adolescents (M age = 15.57; SD = 1.28). Overall, self-reported CU traits were associated with self-report measures of aggression and delinquency, but not with official records of arrests. However, there was an interaction between CU traits and emotional deficits for predicting self-reported aggression, self-reported violent delinquency, and a record of violent arrests. Youth high on CU traits and who showed a deficit in their responses to visual depictions of distress showed the highest levels of aggression and violent delinquency.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

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Notes

  1. The correlation between CU traits and facilitation to distress was similar within the subsample (n = 60) of African American youth (r = −.02 ns.).

  2. Regression analyses for delinquency variables and prior arrests were reexamined while controlling for age, given that older youth would have more opportunity to engage in a greater variety of delinquent acts and to be arrested a greater number of times. Importantly, the interaction effect between CU traits and facilitation to distress pictures remained significant in predicting violent delinquency (ΔR 2 = 0.05, p < 0.05) and the number of prior arrests (ΔR 2 = 0.09, p < 0.01), when controlling for age. Results for total, property, drug, and status delinquency remained nonsignificant.

    Given the substantial positive Skewness of the distributions of scores for proactive aggression and prior arrests we repeated analyses using transformed variables. However, transformation of the proactive aggression variable did not sufficiently normalize the distribution. As a result, we dichotomized this variable based on scores approximately 2.5 standard deviations above and below the mean (above/ below score of 7). Consistent with the findings reported, there was a significant interaction between CU traits and facilitation to distress pictures in predicting the log-transformed prior arrests variable (ΔR 2 = 0.07, p < 0.01), also when controlling for age (ΔR 2 = 0.08, p < 0.01). A logistic regression analysis revealed a significant interaction between CU traits and facilitation to distress for predicting the dichotomized proactive aggression variable (OR = 1.00, p < 0.05).

    These analyses were repeated for the subsample of 60 African American youth. The interaction effects between CU traits and facilitation to distress pictures that were found in the full sample increased in significance in predicting total aggression (ΔR 2 = .16, p < .001), proactive aggression (ΔR 2 = 0.18, p < 0.001), violent delinquency (ΔR 2 = 0.08, p < 0.05), and the number of prior arrests (ΔR 2 = 0.16, p < 0.001). These results were consistent when controlling for age. Also, the interaction effect for predicting reactive aggression (ΔR 2 = 0.12, p < 0.01) reached significance.

  3. The subsample of African American youth showed similar patterns of results to those presented in Figs. 1 and 2 in predicting their violent delinquency and prior arrest scores. Consistent with the results for the full sample, at high levels of facilitation to distress there was a significant negative association between CU traits and prior arrests (β = −0.73, p < 0.001). Also, there was a positive association between CU traits and total aggression (β = 0.50, p < 0.001), proactive aggression (β = 0.50, p < 0.001), and violent delinquency (β = 0.45, p < 0.01) at low levels of facilitation to distress. However, the patterns of the interactions revealed that boys high on facilitation to distress and low on CU traits, as well as boys low on facilitation to distress and high on CU traits, showed the greatest levels of total, proactive, and reactive aggression in the African American subsample. The results for proactive aggression are presented in Fig. 3, although this pattern was similar for total and reactive aggression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology & Social Behavior, School of Social Ecology, University of California, 3325 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA, 92697-7085, USA

    Eva R. Kimonis

  2. Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Paul J. Frick

  3. Department of Behavioural, Social, and Legal Sciences, Orebro University, Orebro, Sweden

    Luna C. Munoz

  4. Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority, Marrero, LA, USA

    Katherine J. Aucoin

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  1. Eva R. Kimonis
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  2. Paul J. Frick
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Correspondence to Eva R. Kimonis.

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Kimonis, E.R., Frick, P.J., Munoz, L.C. et al. Can a Laboratory Measure of Emotional Processing Enhance the Statistical Prediction of Aggression and Delinquency in Detained Adolescents with Callous-unemotional Traits?. J Abnorm Child Psychol 35, 773–785 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9136-1

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