Attachment and Externalizing Behavior: Mediation through Dysfunctional Emotion Regulation and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Author(s):  
Naska Goagoses ◽  
Ute Koglin

The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the association between parental attachment and externalizing behavior is parallelly mediated by dysfunctional emotion regulation and callous-unemotional traits. The community sample included 296 adolescents (Mage = 14.90, SDage = 1.31), who completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits, the Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire, and the Youth Self-Report Child Behavior Checklist. A mediation analysis revealed both direct and indirect effects. Secure attachment representations were negatively associated with internal- and external dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies and callous-unemotional traits, which in turn were positively associated with externalizing behavior problems. The current study expands previous research by simultaneously investigating familial and cognitive factors that foster externalizing behavior problems. An attachment-based perspective offers new possibilities for theory expansion, research directions, and the development of interventions.

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Trumello ◽  
Alessandra Babore ◽  
Carla Candelori ◽  
Mara Morelli ◽  
Dora Bianchi

The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of relationship with parents, emotion regulation, and callous-unemotional traits with Internet addiction in a community sample of adolescents. Self-report measures of relationship with parents (both mothers and fathers), emotion regulation (in its two dimensions: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), callous- unemotional traits (in its three dimensions: callousness, uncaring, and unemotional), and Internet addiction were completed by 743 adolescents aged 10 to 21 years. Results showed that a low perceived maternal availability, high cognitive reappraisal, and high callousness appeared to be predictors of Internet addiction. The implications of these findings are then discussed.


Assessment ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 1668-1680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng-Cheng Wang ◽  
Yiyun Shou ◽  
Jinghui Liang ◽  
Hongyu Lai ◽  
Hong Zeng ◽  
...  

The present study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the shortened versions of the Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits (ICU) with data from multiple informants. Five short versions of the ICU proposed in previous studies were tested and compared through confirmatory factor analysis. The measurement invariance across different informants (i.e., self-report, parent-report, and teacher-report) and longitudinal measurement invariance for the resulting best-fitting model were tested thoroughly. Results indicated that a shortened form that consists of 11 items (ICU-11) to assess callousness and uncaring factors had excellent overall fit. Moreover, the ICU-11 was invariant across informant and occasions. However, the ICU-11 was not without limitations; the internal consistency α for the uncaring factor with self-report scores was marginal. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the ICU-11 was an excellent fit for our data and displayed measurement invariance across informants and over time. The ICU-11 may be a promising assessment tool that could be used in research to assess callous–uncaring traits in Chinese children.


Assessment ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107319112110478
Author(s):  
Tatiana M. Matlasz ◽  
Paul J. Frick ◽  
Julia E. Clark

The current study compared the validity of self-, parent-, and teacher-report versions of the Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits (ICU), a widely used measure of callous–unemotional (CU) traits, at several different ages. Participants ( N = 236, 60.6% girls) were children in Grades 3, 6, and 8 ( Mage = 11.55, SD = 2.23) from a public school system in the southern United States. We tested the association of all three ICU versions with several validators: parent- and teacher-reported conduct problems, peer nominations of characteristics associated with CU traits, and sociometric peer nominations of social preference. Results revealed an interaction between the ICU version and grade in the overall level of CU traits reported, with teacher-report leading to the highest ratings in sixth grade and being higher than parent-report in third grade. Furthermore, the validity of the different versions of the ICU varied somewhat across grades. Specifically, findings support the validity of both teacher- and self-report in third grade, but self-report was the only version to show strong validity in the eighth grade.


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