title: Observed fearlessness and positive parenting interact to predict childhood callous-unemotional behaviors among low-income boys.
abstract: Callous-unemotional behaviors identify children at risk for severe and chronic antisocial behavior. Research is needed to establish pathways from temperament and parenting factors that give rise to callous-unemotional behaviors, including interactions of positive versus harsh parenting with child fearlessness.
  
  
  
  Multimethod data, including parent reports and observations of parent and child behavior, were drawn from a prospective, longitudinal sample of low-income boys (N = 310) with assessments at 18, 24, and 42 months, and at ages 10-12 years old.
  
  
  
  Parent-reported callous-unemotional, oppositional, and attention-deficit factors were separable at 42 months. Callous-unemotional behaviors at 42 months predicted callous-unemotional behaviors at ages 10-12, accounting for earlier oppositional and attention-deficit behaviors and self-reported child delinquency at ages 10-12. Observations of fearlessness at 24 months predicted callous-unemotional behaviors at 42 months, but only when parents exhibited low observed levels of positive parenting. The interaction of fearlessness and low positive parenting indirectly predicted callous-unemotional behaviors at 10-12 via callous-unemotional behaviors at 42 months.
  
  
  
  Early fearlessness interacts with low positive parenting to predict early callous-unemotional behaviors, with lasting effects of this person-by-context interaction on callous-unemotional behaviors into late childhood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Waller
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Center for Human Growth and Development, Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Luke W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Hyde
mesh_terms: D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology*; D011379:Prognosis
keywords: Callous-unemotional; parenting; psychopathy; temperament