Abstract
A guiding question for this special section, sparked by the increasing number of studies on callous –unemotional traits (CU traits) and the DSM-5 Limited Prosocial Emotion (LPE) specifier, is whether CU traits are enough to identify a clinically meaningful subgroup of youth with conduct problems or whether other psychopathic traits contribute. Seven empirical papers and two commentary papers address this question to varying degrees and in different ways with some papers “competing” various models against one another along with other papers investigating distinct correlates of the psychopathy factors. Findings across the papers suggest that there could be benefits to examining the broader construct of psychopathy in addition to examining its underpinning dimensions rather than CU traits alone. Two commentary papers also shed light on the importance of psychopathic traits in children with Conduct Disorder (CD) and provide insights for future work on this topic. It is hoped that the articles and commentary will generate new ideas for research and practice that could have implications for the treatment of those individuals with CD and psychopathic traits.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andershed, H., Kerr, M., Stattin, H., & Levander, S. (2002). Psychopathic traits in non-referred youths: A new assessment tool. In E. Blauuw & L. Sheridan (Eds.), Psychopaths: Current international perspectives (pp. 131–158). The Hague: Elsevier.
Andershed, H., Colins, O., Salekin, R. T., Lordos, A., Kyranides, M., & Fanti, K. (this volume). Callous-unemotional traits only versus the multidimensional psychopathy construct as predictors of various antisocial outcomes during early adolescence. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.
Cleckley, H. M. (1941/1976). The mask of sanity: An attempt to clarify some issues about the so-called psychopathic personality. St Louis: Mosby.
Colins, O., Andershed, H., Salekin, R. T., & Fanti, K. (this volume). Comparing different approaches for subtyping children with conduct problems: Callous-unemotional traits only versus the mutidimensional psychopathy construct. Journal of psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.
Fanti, K. A., Kyranides, M. N., Lordos, A., Colins, O., & Andershed, H. (this volume). Unique and interactive associations of callous unemotional traits, impulsivity (DI) and narcissism (GM traits) with child and adolescent conduct disorder symptoms. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.
Frick, P. J., & Moffitt, T. E. (2010). A proposal to the DSM-V Childhood Disorders and the ADHD and Disruptive Behavior Disorders Workgroups to include a specifier to the diagnosis of conduct disorder based on the presence of callous-unemotional traits. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Frick, P. J., Bodin, S. D., & Barry, C. T. (2000). Psychopathic traits and conduct problems in community and clinic-referred samples of children: Further development of the psychopathy screening device. Psychological Assessment, 12, 382–393.
Frogner, L., Andershed, A-K., & Andershed, H. (this volume). Psychopathic personality works better than CU traits for predicting fearlessness and ADHD symptoms among children with conduct problems. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.
Gillen, C. T., Lee, Z., Salekin, K. L., Iselin, A-M. R., Harrison, N. A., Clark, A. P., Colins, O., & Salekin, R. T. (this volume). Psychopathic traits in adolescence: The importance of examining components in face processing, voice processing and emotional skill. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessement.
Hare, R. D. (1991/2003). Manual for the revised psychopathy checklist (1st ed.). Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.
Harpur, T. J., Hakstian, R., & Hare, R. D. (1988). Factor structure of the psychopathy checklist. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 741–747.
Harpur, T. J., Hare, R. D., & Hakstian, A. R. (1989). Two-factor conceptualization of psychopathy: Construct validity and assessment implications. Psychological Assessment, 1, 6–17.
Lahey, B. B. (2014). What we need to know about callous-unemotional traits: Comment on Frick, ray, Thornton, and Kahn (2014). Psychological Bulletin, 140, 58–63.
Lee, S. S. (this volume). Multidimensionality of youth psychopathic traits: Validation and future directions. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9662-x
Lilienfeld, S. (this volume). The multidimensional nature of psychopathy: Five recommendations for research. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9657-7.
Ridder, K. A., Kosson, D. S. (this volume). Investigating the components of psychopathic traits in youth offenders. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.
Salekin, R. T. (2016a). Psychopathy in childhood: Why should we care about grandiose-manipulative and daring-impulsive traits? British Journal of Psychiatry, 209, 189–191.
Salekin, R. T. (2016b). Psychopathy in childhood: Toward better informing the DSM-5 and ICD-11 conduct disorder specifiers. Personality Disorders: Theory Research and Treatment, 7, 180–191.
Salekin, R. T. (2017). Research review: What do we know about psychopathic traits in children? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58, 1180–1200.
Salekin, R. T. Andershed, H., & Clark, A. P. (2018). Psychopathy in children and adolescents: Assessment and critical questions regarding conceptualization. In C. J. Patrick (2nd Ed)., Handbook of psychopathy (pp. 479–508). New York: Guilford.
Somma, A., Andershed, H., Borroni, S., Salekin, R. T., & Fossati, A. (this volume). Psychopathic personality traits in relation to self-report delinquency in adolescence: Should we mind about interaction effects. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
Randall T. Salekin, Henrik Andershed, Blair D. Batky and Andrew P. Bontemps declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
Ethical approval and participant consent were not sought/obtained for this paper as it did not involve human participants.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Salekin, R.T., Andershed, H., Batky, B.D. et al. Are Callous Unemotional (CU) Traits Enough?. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 40, 1–5 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9663-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9663-9