Predictive value of callous-unemotional traits in a large community sample.
OBJECTIVE
Callous-unemotional (CU) traits in children and adolescents are increasingly recognized as a distinctive dimension of prognostic importance in clinical samples. Nevertheless, comparatively little is known about the longitudinal effects of these personality traits on the mental health of young people from the general population. Using a large representative sample of children and adolescents living in Great Britain, we set out to examine the effects of CU traits on a range of mental health outcomes measured 3 years after the initial assessment.


METHODS
Parents were interviewed to determine the presence of CU traits in a representative sample of 7,636 children and adolescents. The parents also completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a broad measure of childhood psychopathology. Three years later, parents repeated the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.


RESULTS
At 3-year follow-up, CU traits were associated with conduct, hyperactivity, emotional, and total symptom scores. After adjusting for the effects of all covariates, including baseline symptom score, CU traits remained robustly associated with the overall levels of conduct problems and emotional problems and with total psychiatric difficulties at 3-year follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Callous-unemotional traits are independently associated with future psychiatric difficulties in children and adolescents. An assessment of CU traits adds small but significant improvements to the prediction of future psychopathology.
Drs. Moran, Maughan, Scott, Goodman, Ms. Flach, and Ms. Briskman are with the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Dr. Rowe is with the University of Sheffield; and Dr. Ford is with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry. Electronic address: paul.moran@iop.kcl.ac.uk.
Paul
P
Moran
Drs. Moran, Maughan, Scott, Goodman, Ms. Flach, and Ms. Briskman are with the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Dr. Rowe is with the University of Sheffield; and Dr. Ford is with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Richard
R
Rowe
Drs. Moran, Maughan, Scott, Goodman, Ms. Flach, and Ms. Briskman are with the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Dr. Rowe is with the University of Sheffield; and Dr. Ford is with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Clare
C
Flach
Drs. Moran, Maughan, Scott, Goodman, Ms. Flach, and Ms. Briskman are with the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Dr. Rowe is with the University of Sheffield; and Dr. Ford is with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Jacqueline
J
Briskman
Drs. Moran, Maughan, Scott, Goodman, Ms. Flach, and Ms. Briskman are with the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Dr. Rowe is with the University of Sheffield; and Dr. Ford is with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Tamsin
T
Ford
Drs. Moran, Maughan, Scott, Goodman, Ms. Flach, and Ms. Briskman are with the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Dr. Rowe is with the University of Sheffield; and Dr. Ford is with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Barbara
B
Maughan
Drs. Moran, Maughan, Scott, Goodman, Ms. Flach, and Ms. Briskman are with the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Dr. Rowe is with the University of Sheffield; and Dr. Ford is with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Stephen
S
Scott
Drs. Moran, Maughan, Scott, Goodman, Ms. Flach, and Ms. Briskman are with the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London; Dr. Rowe is with the University of Sheffield; and Dr. Ford is with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Robert
R
Goodman
D000293:Adolescent; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006113:United Kingdom