Helseth Sarah A, Waschbusch Daniel A, King Sara, Willoughby Michael T
Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA.
J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2015 Nov;43(8):1503-1514. doi: 10.1007/s10802-015-0027-6.
Callous/unemotional traits (CU) moderate children's conduct problems (CP) in numerous domains, including social functioning. The present study examined whether CU traits also moderate the aggressiveness of children's social information processing (SIP) and responses to varying intensities of peer provocation. Sixty elementary school-age children (46 males) were grouped into those without CP or CU (controls, n = 32), those with CP but not CU (CP-only; n = 14), and those with both CP and CU (CPCU, n = 14). Participants completed a task that measured two aspects of SIP (response generation and hostile attribution bias) and a computerized reaction time task (CRTT) that measured behavior, affect, and communication before and after provocation under instrumental and hostile aggressive conditions. Children with CPCU generated more aggressive responses than controls on measures of SIP. On the CRTT, all children exhibited reactive aggression following high provocation, but only children with CPCU exhibited proactive aggression, and reactive aggression following low provocation; no differences in affect were found. In a series of exploratory analyses, CPCU children communicated antisocially, while CP-only communicated prosocially. Finally, children with CPCU did not seem to hold a grudge following the final instance of provocation, instead gradually returning to baseline like their non-CU peers. These distinct social cognitive and behavioral profiles hint at different etiologies of CP and CPCU, underscoring the variability of aggression in these populations.
冷酷无情特质（CU）在包括社会功能在内的众多领域中调节着儿童的行为问题（CP）。本研究考察了CU特质是否也调节儿童社会信息加工（SIP）的攻击性以及对不同强度同伴挑衅的反应。60名小学适龄儿童（46名男性）被分为无CP或CU的儿童（对照组，n = 32）、有CP但无CU的儿童（仅CP组；n = 14）以及既有CP又有CU的儿童（CPCU组，n = 14）。参与者完成了一项测量SIP两个方面（反应生成和敌意归因偏差）的任务，以及一项计算机化反应时任务（CRTT），该任务测量了在工具性攻击和敌意攻击条件下挑衅前后的行为、情感和沟通。在SIP测量中，CPCU组儿童比对照组产生了更多攻击性反应。在CRTT中，所有儿童在高挑衅后都表现出反应性攻击，但只有CPCU组儿童表现出主动性攻击以及低挑衅后的反应性攻击；未发现情感方面的差异。在一系列探索性分析中，CPCU组儿童进行反社会沟通，而仅CP组儿童进行亲社会沟通。最后，CPCU组儿童在最后一次挑衅后似乎没有怀恨在心，而是像非CU组同伴一样逐渐恢复到基线水平。这些不同的社会认知和行为特征暗示了CP和CPCU的不同病因，强调了这些人群中攻击行为的变异性。
