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Unravelling the Association between Fear and Psychopathic Traits in Children...
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Unravelling the Association between Fear and Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Child and Adolescent Psychiatry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 October 2024 | Viewed by 4658

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Nicholas D. Thomson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departments of Surgery and Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA
Interests: psychopathy; biopsychosocial risk factors for violence; violence intervention and prevention; developmental psychopathology; forensic psychology
Dr. Kostas Fanti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
Interests: developmental psychopathology and transactional–ecological models of development; psychopathic personality traits; neurophysiological, cognitive, individual, and environmental risk processes; identifying developmental processes of child and adolescent protection and resilience; quantitative methodology: person- and variable-oriented methods; cognitive neuroscience treatments for conduct disorder

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fearlessness is thought to play a critical role in the development and stability of psychopathic traits during childhood and adolescence, and although the association has been long discussed (i.e., Cleckley, 1941), the available evidence is mixed. There are various explanations for the discrepancies between studies, including different constructs of psychopathic traits being used, various approaches to fear induction/stimuli, and inconsistent indices of fear reactivity. Although this has led to an unclear understanding of the effect that fear and psychopathy have on each other, this also highlights that we, as a field, are encroaching on something significant—“Unravelling the Association between Fear and Psychopathic Traits”.

This Special Issue is dedicated to elucidating the association between psychopathic traits (i.e., callous–unemotional traits, grandiosity, and impulsivity) and fear among children and adolescents.

This Special Issue prioritizes the submission of papers that implement cutting-edge research techniques, including the use of advanced technologies, analytical methods, neurophysiological assessments, and multidisciplinary research practice. This Special Issue will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to showcase ground-breaking research and contribute to the advancement of knowledge on psychopathic traits and fear.

The Special Issue invites authors to submit original research articles as well as full-length review articles.

Dr. Nicholas D. Thomson
Dr. Kostas Fanti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • callous–unemotional traits
  • psychopathy
  • conduct disorder
  • externalizing disorders
  • fear

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 678 KiB  
Article
Callous–Unemotional Traits and Emotion Perception Accuracy and Bias in Youths
by Enrica Ciucci, Andrea Baroncelli, Carolina Facci, Stefania Righi and Paul J. Frick
Children 2024, 11(4), 419; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11040419 - 01 Apr 2024
Viewed by 548
Abstract
This study investigated the associations among conduct problems, callous–unemotional (CU) traits, and indices of emotion recognition accuracy and emotion recognition bias obtained from human faces. Impairments in emotion recognition were considered within broader, impaired emotional and social functioning. The sample consisted of 293 [...] Read more.
This study investigated the associations among conduct problems, callous–unemotional (CU) traits, and indices of emotion recognition accuracy and emotion recognition bias obtained from human faces. Impairments in emotion recognition were considered within broader, impaired emotional and social functioning. The sample consisted of 293 middle-school students (51.19% girls; M age = 12.97 years, SD = 0.88 years). In general, CU traits were associated with less accuracy in recognizing emotions, especially fearful and angry faces, and such deficits in emotional recognition were not associated with conduct problems independent of CU traits. These results support the importance of studying potential deficits in the recognition of emotions other than fear. Furthermore, our results support the importance of considering the role of CU traits when studying emotional correlates of conduct problems. For children scoring high on CU traits, the emotion recognition accuracy of anger was low irrespective of the level of conduct problems, whereas in children scoring low on CU traits, less accuracy in recognizing emotions was related to increases in conduct problems. Finally, our results support the need for research to not only focus on accuracy of emotional recognition but also test whether there are specific biases leading to these inaccuracies. Specifically, CU traits were associated not only with lower accuracy in recognizing fearful faces but also with a tendency to interpret fearful faces as angry. This suggests that the emotional deficit associated with CU traits is not just a deficit in empathic concern toward others distress but also includes a tendency to overinterpret emotions as potential threats to oneself. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unravelling the Association between Fear and Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents)
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12 pages, 768 KiB  
Article
The Interplay between Fear Reactivity and Callous–Unemotional Traits Predicting Reactive and Proactive Aggression
by Nicholas D. Thomson, Sophie L. Kjærvik, Victoria J. Blondell and Laura E. Hazlett
Children 2024, 11(4), 379; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11040379 - 22 Mar 2024
Viewed by 705
Abstract
Research has indicated that youths with CU traits are fearless, and this fearlessness plays a bidirectional role in both the development of CU traits and engagement in aggressive behavior. However, research specifically testing the role of fear in the association between CU traits [...] Read more.
Research has indicated that youths with CU traits are fearless, and this fearlessness plays a bidirectional role in both the development of CU traits and engagement in aggressive behavior. However, research specifically testing the role of fear in the association between CU traits and aggression is scarce. The goal of the current study was to test if fear reactivity, both conscious (self-report) and automatic (skin conductance reactivity; SCR), moderated the association between CU traits and aggression subtypes (reactive and proactive aggression). Participants included 161 adolescents (Mage = 15 years) diagnosed with conduct disorder. CU traits were assessed using the self-report Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits. Conscious and automatic fear reactivity were measured during a virtual reality rollercoaster using the Self-Assessment Manikin and skin conductance reactivity (SCR), respectively. Hierarchical regressions found that high fear reactivity on SCR moderated the link between CU traits and reactive aggression, while feeling more excited during fear induction moderated the link between CU traits and proactive aggression. Overall, a possible explanation of our divergent findings between conscious and automatic fear may be the difference between the instinctual biological response to threat versus the cognitive and emotional appraisal and experience of threat. Implications for intervention strategies targeting emotional recognition and regulation in reducing aggression in CD populations are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unravelling the Association between Fear and Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents)
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11 pages, 421 KiB  
Article
Primary and Secondary Variants of Callous-Unemotional Traits in Community Youths: Differences in Anticipatory Fear
by Yu Gao and Adrian Raine
Children 2024, 11(3), 359; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11030359 - 19 Mar 2024
Viewed by 783
Abstract
Callous-unemotional (CU) traits refer to a cluster of characteristics such as low empathy, lack of remorse, and insensitivity to the emotions of others, delineating a group of youth at high risk for severe antisocial behavior. Two variants—primary and secondary CU—have been theorized to [...] Read more.
Callous-unemotional (CU) traits refer to a cluster of characteristics such as low empathy, lack of remorse, and insensitivity to the emotions of others, delineating a group of youth at high risk for severe antisocial behavior. Two variants—primary and secondary CU—have been theorized to have different underlying mechanisms, although mixed findings have been reported. The current study examined if the variants differ in their level of anticipatory fear in 92 youths from the community (mean age = 14.2 years, range = 12.3–16.4 years; 43.5% female). Participants completed a countdown task while their heart rate and skin conductance responses were recorded. Parents and youths completed the inventory of callous-unemotional traits and the child behavior checklist. Compared to the control group (low CU/low anxiety), the primary CU group (high CU/low anxiety) showed prolonged heart rate deceleration in anticipation of the impending aversive stimulus. The secondary CU group (high CU/high anxiety) did not differ from the other two groups on heart rate or skin conductance responses. This prolonged heart rate deceleration in the primary CU group is interpreted in the context of the passive vagal coping theory of antisocial behavior which hypothesizes that an over-engagement of the parasympathetic nervous system reduces the impact of a socializing punishment, which in turn predisposes individuals to antisocial behavior. Findings provide further support for the distinct etiology of two variants of CU traits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unravelling the Association between Fear and Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents)
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15 pages, 1519 KiB  
Article
Parasympathetic Nervous System Functioning Moderates the Associations between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Emotion Understanding Difficulties in Late Childhood
by Sarah F. Lynch, Samantha Perlstein, Cora Ordway, Callie Jones, Hanna Lembcke, Rebecca Waller and Nicholas J. Wagner
Children 2024, 11(2), 184; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11020184 - 02 Feb 2024
Viewed by 774
Abstract
Background: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are characterized by low empathy, guilt, and prosociality, putting children at risk for lifespan antisocial behavior. Elevated CU traits have been linked separately to difficulties with emotion understanding (i.e., identifying emotional states of others) and disrupted parasympathetic nervous system [...] Read more.
Background: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are characterized by low empathy, guilt, and prosociality, putting children at risk for lifespan antisocial behavior. Elevated CU traits have been linked separately to difficulties with emotion understanding (i.e., identifying emotional states of others) and disrupted parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) functioning. However, no study has investigated how PNS functioning and emotion understanding are jointly related to CU traits. Method: We explored associations between CU traits, emotion understanding, and PNS functioning (indexed via respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) among children aged 7–10 years old (n = 55). We also tested whether deficits in emotion understanding differ across specific emotions (i.e., fear, pain, happiness, anger). Each child’s RSA was continuously recorded while they watched a film that included emotionally evocative social interactions. To assess emotion understanding, children identified emotions replayed in 1s animations of scenes from the film. Parents reported on child CU traits, conduct problems, and demographic information. Results: Higher CU traits were related to lower emotion understanding (β = −0.43, p = 0.03). PNS activity during the film moderated this association (β = −0.47, p < 0.001), such that CU traits were associated with lower emotion understanding among children with mean (B = −0.01, t = −2.46, p = 0.02) or high (i.e., 1 SD > M; B = −0.02, t = −3.00, p < 0.001) RSA levels during the film, but not among children with low RSA levels (i.e., 1 SD < M; B = 0.00, t = −0.53, p = 0.60). Moreover, we found that the observed moderated associations are driven by deficits in fear, specifically. Conclusions: The link between poorer emotion understanding, fear understanding in particular, and CU traits was attenuated for children who demonstrated patterns of PNS functioning consistent with attentional engagement while viewing the emotion stimuli. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unravelling the Association between Fear and Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents)
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Graphical abstract

18 pages, 333 KiB  
Article
Examining the Association between Psychopathic Traits and Fearlessness among Maximum-Security Incarcerated Male Adolescents
by J. Michael Maurer, Nathaniel E. Anderson, Corey H. Allen and Kent A. Kiehl
Children 2024, 11(1), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11010065 - 03 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1129
Abstract
Studies have reported positive associations between youth psychopathy scores and measures of ‘fearlessness’. However, prior studies modified fearlessness items to be age appropriate, shifting from assessing hypothetical, extreme forms of physical risk-taking (e.g., flying an airplane) to normative risk-taking (e.g., riding bicycles downhill). [...] Read more.
Studies have reported positive associations between youth psychopathy scores and measures of ‘fearlessness’. However, prior studies modified fearlessness items to be age appropriate, shifting from assessing hypothetical, extreme forms of physical risk-taking (e.g., flying an airplane) to normative risk-taking (e.g., riding bicycles downhill). We hypothesize that associations between youth psychopathy scores and alternative forms of sensation seeking (i.e., Disinhibition) have been conflated under a false fearlessness label. We tested this hypothesis among incarcerated male adolescents, investigating whether youth psychopathy scores were significantly associated with two different forms of sensation seeking: Disinhibition and Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS). Youth psychopathic traits were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV), Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), Child Psychopathy Scale (CPS), Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits (ICU), and Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI). Disinhibition and fearlessness (i.e., TAS) were assessed using an unmodified version of the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scales (SSS). Consistent with hypotheses, youth psychopathy scores were associated with higher Disinhibition and lower TAS scores. Our results contribute to a growing body of literature suggesting that psychopathic traits, including among adolescents, are not concomitant with physical risk-taking and descriptions of psychopathy including fearlessness distort a precise understanding of psychopathy’s core features. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Unravelling the Association between Fear and Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Fearlessness as an Underlying Mechanism Leading to Conduct Problems: Testing the INTERFEAR model in a community sample in Spain
Authors: Kostas Fanti; Ioannis Mavrommatis; Beatriz Díaz-Vázquez; Laura López-Romero; Estrella Romero; María Álvarez-Voces; Olivier Colins; Henrik Andershed; Nicholas Thomson
Affiliation: University of Cyprus
Abstract: Conduct problems (CP) in childhood and adolescence have a significant impact on the individual, family, and community. To improve treatment for CP, there is a need to better understand the developmental pathways of CP in boys and girls. Prior research has linked the child’s fearlessness and callous-unemotional (CU) traits, as well as experiences of parental warmth and punitive parenting, to CP. However, few studies have tested the interplay of these factors in contributing to future CP development. The present study aimed to test the InterFear model (Fanti et al., 2023), which suggests that fearlessness in early childhood leads to CP through an indirect pathway involving low positive parenting, high negative/punitive parenting, and callous-unemotional (CU) traits. The sample included 2,467 Spanish children (48.1% girls; Mage = 4.25; SD = 0.91), followed-up across a five-year period. In addition to a direct association between fearlessness in early childhood and future CP, the results found an indirect pathway whereby fearlessness reduces positive parenting and increases punitive parenting, which contributes to the development of CU traits and sets the stage for CP in later childhood. The specific indirect effect from fearlessness to CP via CU traits accounted for most of the variance, suggesting the existence of a temperamental pathway independent of parental variables. Further, two additional indirect pathways, exclusive of fearlessness, were found and started with low parental warmth and positive parenting leading to CP via CU traits. These findings support the InterFear model, demonstrating multiple pathways to CP with the involvement of fearlessness, parenting practices, and CU traits. This model may play a pivotal role in the development of targeted prevention strategies for CP.

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