Callous-unemotional traits and the attentional bias towards emotional stimuli: Testing the moderating role of emotional and behavioural problems among high-risk adolescents. (January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Szabó, Edina; Halász, József; Morgan, Antony; Demetrovics, Zsolt; Kökönyei, Gyöngyi
• Is Part Of: Clinical child psychology and psychiatry. Volume 25:Number 1(2020)
• Page Start: 156
• Page End: 173
• Publication Date: 2020-01
• Subjects: Callous-unemotional traits -- attentional bias -- behavioural problems -- emotional problems -- high-risk sample; Clinical child psychology -- Periodicals; Child psychiatry -- Periodicals; 618.9289
• DOI: 10.1177/1359104518822690
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-1045

Abstract

Former studies demonstrated that antisocial youth with callous-unemotional (CU) traits are impaired in the processing of negative emotional stimuli. The aim of the current study was to explore the moderating role of different behavioural (i.e. conduct problems, hyperactivity-inattention) and emotional problems (i.e. internalizing symptoms) in the relationship between CU traits and attentional bias towards emotional stimuli. Besides using self-report measures, attentional bias was tested by an affective dot-probe task in a high-risk sample of 102 adolescent boys ( M age = 16.34 years; SD = 1.32). CU traits were related to reduced attention to emotionally distressing pictures. Furthermore, conduct problems significantly moderated the relationship between CU traits and attention to distress cues. These findings highlight the importance of considering potential moderators to the well-established link between CU traits and deficits in response to negative emotional cues.