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Annual Research Review: A developmental psychopathology approach to understanding callous‐unemotional traits in children and adolescents with serious conduct problems
Author(s) -
Frick Paul J.,
Ray James V.,
Thornton Laura C.,
Kahn Rachel E.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/jcpp.12152
Subject(s) - psychology , conduct disorder , psychopathology , empathy , prosocial behavior , developmental psychopathology , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , child psychopathology , psychiatry
Recent research has suggested that the presence of significant levels of callous‐unemotional ( CU ) traits designates a clinically important and etiologically distinct subgroup of children and adolescents with serious conduct problems. Based on this research, CU traits have been included in the most recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – 5th Edition ( DSM ‐5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) – as a specifier for the diagnosis of conduct disorder. In this review, we attempt to understand CU traits within a developmental psychopathological framework. Specifically, we summarize research on the normal development of the prosocial emotions of empathy and guilt (i.e., conscience) and we illustrate how the development of CU traits can be viewed as the normal development of conscience gone awry. Furthermore, we review research on the stability of CU traits across different developmental periods and highlight factors that can influence this stability. Finally, we highlight the implications of this developmental psychopathological framework for future etiological research, for assessment and diagnostic classification, and for treatment of children with serious conduct problems.