Callous-unemotional (CU) traits have been proposed to identify a unique subgroup of children with conduct disorder (CD). Little is known, however, about the biological correlates of these traits. In addition, research into the biological correlates of CD has been mixed. This dissertation tested the hypothesis that CU traits moderate the relationship between CD and biological indicators of activ...

BACKGROUND Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits, a proposed precursor to adult psychopathy, are characterized by impaired emotion recognition, reduced responsiveness to others' distress, and a lack of guilt or empathy. Reduced attention to faces, and more specifically to the eye region, has been proposed to underlie these difficulties, although this has never been tested longitudinally...

The current study tested whether callous-unemotional (CU) traits explained unique variance in measures of aggression and bullying, and in measures assessing cognitive and affective correlates to aggression, when controlling for conduct problem severity. In a sample of 284 ethnically diverse students (ages 9 to 14 years), a self-report measure of CU traits did not explain unique variance in self...

The innate violence inhibition mechanism (VIM) purportedly regulates maladaptive aggressive behavior through motor inhibition, in response to expressions of distress, and is implicated psychopathy-related aggression. Deficiency eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; an omega-3 fatty acid) aggression callous-unemotional (CU) traits, however, its relationship the VIM remains unknown. Two studies tested rela...

There has been growing consensus that children with conduct disorder (CD) constitute a very heterogeneous group containing children who vary substantially on the development, course, and causes of the disorder. While many have recognized the importance of this heterogeneity for developing better causal theories and for developing more effective treatments, there has been little consensus as to ...

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