About this session

Friday, 1:20 PM - 2:50 PM

The Social and Emotional Development of Youth with Callous-Unemotional Traits

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are a collection of traits (i.e., a lack of guilt, lack of empathy, shallow or blunted affect, disregard for important activities) that are conceptualized as the affective components of psychopathy and conscience development. These traits are closely linked to conduct problems in youth, and youth with both conduct problems and elevated CU traits are hypothesized to have a unique developmental trajectory compared to children with conduct problems without elevated CU traits. One factor that characterizes this distinct trajectory is their socioemotional development. The current symposium explores socioemotional dimensions that serve as both precursors and sequelae of CU traits, including peer functioning, social motivation, emotion recognition, and stress reactivity. Presentations in the symposium utilize diverse methodologies, including innovative behavioral tasks, psychophysiological measurement, and informant reports. Findings highlight that, from an early age, CU traits are marked by a distinct pattern of deficient psychophysiological reactivity and social motivation, leading to underdeveloped emotion recognition skills and difficulties with emotional connection with peers. Identifying these socioemotional patterns informs theories on the development of CU traits and supports the idea that this development is distinct from other types of related psychopathology. Further, findings hold clinical implications by investigating methods of early identification and pointing to potential intervention targets to prevent CU traits and antisocial behavior.

Paper #1
Title	Parent-Reported Social Difficulties in Children with Callous-Unemotional Traits: Distinctions from ADHD and Conduct Problems
Presenting author	Erin P. Vaughan, Louisiana State University & Penn State College of Medicine, United States

Paper #2
Title	Psychophysiological Antecedents to the Cascade of Children’s CU Traits and Later Psychological Adjustment
Presenting author	Vanessa T. Cao, University of Rochester, United States

Paper #3
Title	What’s in a Name (or Face)? Callous-Unemotional Traits and Preference for Anthropomorphic Features
Presenting author	Kristin Murtha, University of Pennsylvania, United States

Paper #4
Title	Hearing a Feeling: Music Emotion Recognition and Callous-Unemotional Traits in Early Childhood
Presenting author	Dr. Yael Paz, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, United States

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Session chairs
Erin P. Vaughan, Louisiana State University & Penn State College of Medicine, United States; Daniel Waschbusch, , United States

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