Adolescent callous–unemotional traits and conduct disorder in adoptees exposed to severe early deprivation

BackgroundThere is a debate over whether disruptive behaviour should be regarded as a central component of, or rather as an epiphenomenon with little diagnostic value for, psychopathy.AimsTo test whether callous–unemotional traits and conduct disorder can be dissociated in the English and Romanian Adoptee Study, a prospective longitudinal study of adopted individuals with a history of severe early institutional deprivation.MethodThe Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment was used to establish DSM-IV diagnoses for conduct disorder (and also oppositional defiant disorder) at the 15-year follow-up stage. The Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits questionnaire was administered to assess psychopathy traits.ResultsThere was no significant association between callous–unemotional traits and conduct disorder, both according to parent and youth self-report assessed categorically and dimensionally after controlling for confounds.ConclusionsThe majority of individuals with high callous–unemotional traits did not show conduct disorder in this special sample of children. This supports the view that, while common, an overlap between these aspects of psychopathology is not inevitable and so provides evidence for the dissociation of these two concepts. In terms of classification, we argue for a diagnostic scheme where psychopathy can be diagnosed independently of conduct disorder.

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Specifying the Connection Between Reward Processing and Antisocial Psychopathology Across Development

The Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190653200.013.21 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 311-332

Author(s):

Suzanne Estrada ◽

Scott Tillem ◽

Allison Stuppy-Sullivan ◽

Arielle Baskin-Sommers

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Conduct Disorder ◽

Antisocial Behavior ◽

Antisocial Personality Disorder ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Self Report ◽

Antisocial Personality ◽

Callous Unemotional ◽

Callous Unemotional Traits ◽

Unemotional Traits

Antisocial behavior is a heterogeneous construct that includes a range of behavioral problems and psychopathologies. With regard to classification, children and adolescents may be identified as having conduct disorder or callous–unemotional traits; whereas adults may be identified as having antisocial personality disorder or psychopathy. The adverse consequences of the behaviors and diagnoses related to this construct produce great burdens for the perpetrators, victims, family members, and society at large. Research has focused on identifying various factors contributing to antisocial behavior, with reward processing among one of the most studied. This chapter synthesizes self-report, behavioral, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging literature on reward processing in antisocial behavior across development. Findings are organized regarding key reward constructs within the Positive Valence Systems domain of the Research Domain Criteria matrix. Overall, children with conduct disorder display deficits in action selection, responsivity to reward, and reward prediction that result in risky choices, impaired performance in the face of reward, and poor integration of reward information. By contrast, children with callous–unemotional traits demonstrate poor reward learning and use of reward cues. In adults, those with antisocial personality disorder display deficits in reward valuation; whereas those with psychopathy show context-dependent abnormalities in multiple components of reward processing. Ultimately, an integrative focus on abnormal reward processing across subtypes of individuals who engage in antisocial behavior might help refine the phenotype and improve the prediction of onset and recovery of these disorders.

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