Unique versus shared neural correlates of externalizing psychopathology in late childhood.

Childhood externalizing psychopathology is heterogeneous. Symptom variability in conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and callous-unemotional (CU) traits designate different subgroups of children with externalizing problems who have specific treatment needs. However, CD, ODD, ADHD, and CU traits are highly comorbid.

Evaluating the sensitivity to threat and affiliative reward (STAR) model in relation to the development of conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits across early adolescence.

Background: The Sensitivity to Threat and Affiliative Reward (STAR) model proposes low threat sensitivity and low affiliation as risk factors for callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Preliminary evidence for the STAR model comes from work in early childhood. However, studies are needed that explore the STAR dimensions in late childhood and adolescence when severe conduct problems (CP) emerge.

Parasympathetic Nervous System Functioning Moderates the Associations between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Emotion Understanding Difficulties in Late Childhood.

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.

Treatment of childhood disruptive behavior disorders and callous-unemotional traits: a systematic review and two multilevel meta-analyses.

Background: Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits are at high lifetime risk of antisocial behavior. It is unknown if treatments for disruptive behavior disorders are as effective for children with CU traits (DBD+CU) as those without (DBD-only), nor if treatments directly reduce CU traits. Separate multilevel meta-analyses were conducted to compare treatment effects on DBD symptoms for DBD+CU versus DBD-only children and evaluate direct treatment-related reductions in CU traits, as well as to examine moderating factors for both questions.

Contribution of risk and resilience factors to anxiety trajectories during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study.

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the response of governments to mitigate the pandemic's spread, resulted in exceptional circumstances that comprised a major global stressor, with broad implications for mental health. We aimed to delineate anxiety trajectories over three time-points in the first 6 months of the pandemic and identify baseline risk and resilience factors that predicted anxiety trajectories. Within weeks of the pandemic onset, we established a website (covid19resilience.

Psychometric Properties, Factor Structure, and Validity of the Sensitivity to Threat and Affiliative Reward Scale in Children and Adults.

Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits identify children at high risk of antisocial behavior. A recent theoretical model proposed that CU traits arise from low sensitivity to threat and affiliation. To assess these dimensions, we developed the parent- and self-reported Sensitivity to Threat and Affiliative Reward Scale (STARS) and tested its psychometric properties, factor structure, and construct validity.

Genetic versus environmental influences on callous-unemotional traits in preadolescence: The role of parenting and parental psychopathology.

Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits are at risk for severe conduct problems. While CU traits are moderately heritable, parenting also predicts risk. However, few studies have investigated whether parenting factors (e.

Prospective associations between pandemic-related adversity, harsh parenting, and the development of prosociality across middle to late childhood.

Parenting behaviors and children's prosociality (i.e., voluntary behaviors intended to benefit others) are linked across development.

Autonomic Nervous System Inflexibility During Parent-child Interactions is Related to Callous-unemotional Traits in Youth Aged 10-14 Years Old.

Youth with callous-unemotional (CU) traits are at high risk for aggression and antisocial behavior. Extant literature suggests that CU traits are related to abnormal autonomic responses to negatively-valenced emotional stimuli, although few studies have tested autonomic responding specifically during social interactions. To address this knowledge gap, the current study tested whether CU traits were related to autonomic activity, assessed via respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), during several parent-child interaction tasks designed to provoke negative emotion.

Low social affiliation predicts increases in callous-unemotional behaviors in early childhood.

Background: Callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors predict risk for aggression and rule-breaking. Low social affiliation (i.e.

Across-subjects multiple baseline trial of exposure-based cognitive-behavioral therapy for severe irritability: a study protocol.

Introduction: Irritability is defined as a tendency towards anger in response to frustration. Clinically, impairing irritability is a significant public health problem. There is a need for mechanism-based psychotherapies targeting severe irritability as it manifests in the context of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD).

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children's Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered family life, but whether family exposures to and worries about the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted child conduct problems (CP) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits is unknown. Thus, we evaluated 303 parents (M = 38.04; SD = 5.

Integrating the study of personality and psychopathology in the context of gene-environment correlations across development.

Objective: A key principle of individual differences research is that biological and environmental factors jointly influence personality and psychopathology. Genes and environments interact to influence the emergence and stability of both normal and abnormal behavior (i.e.

White Matter Microstructure in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder and Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder.

Objective: Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) codifies severe, chronic irritability. Youths with bipolar disorder (BD) also present with irritability, but with an episodic course. To date, it is not clear whether aberrant white matter microstructure-a well-replicated finding in BD-can be observed in DMDD and relates to symptoms of irritability.