What makes the difference? A cross-generation comparison of biological and psychosocial factors differentiating subgroups of children with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Christina Schwenck
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology ; Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: from 2016 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 298889975

The impact of callous unemotional traits (CU) in combination with conduct problems (conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder; CP) on antisocial behavior, treatment outcome and other variables has been shown across studies, leading to the impression that children with additional CU-traits constitute a confined subtype within this disorder. However, CU traits do not exclusively present with CP, they also appear in children and adolescents without any confined psychopathology. So far, the biological, neuropsychological and environmental differences between children with CP and additional CU-traits and children and adolescents with CU only have not yet been investigated thoroughly. The aim of this project is first, to investigate factors that differentiate groups of children with CP, CU, both conditions and typically developing children (TD). Secondly, we aim to assess the influence of these variables on the developmental course of children with CU only in comparison to TD, their burden by psychopathological symptoms and psychosocial adjustment. Unlike earlier studies, this project explicitly includes CU children with no additional CP and takes social information processing of their mothers as potential relevant factors into account. The proposed research will elucidate how (1) biological factors (i.e. low autonomic reactivity to affective stimuli), (2) environmental factors (i.e. parenting, parental mental health), and (3) neuropsychological factors (i.e. learning characteristics and emotion processing) differentiate between these groups. Also, the same biological and neuropsychological factors will be assessed in mothers of the children, allowing for a more comprehensive model of the role of CU in and without the context of CP. The project includes a cross-sectional study in which children (aged 7 to 9 years), who vary with respect to CU and/or CP (and compared to TD children), and their mothers will undergo a series of experiments and psychophysiological measurements. Emotion processing will be assessed using a facial expression categorization task. A probabilistic classification task will be used to investigate learning characteristics. These experiments include measuring behavior (e.g. reaction time, hits, etc.) and psychophysiological responding (e.g. HR, eye movements, pupil dilation, etc.), which will be analyzed. In addition to this cross-sectional design, children with CU and children with TD will be assessed longitudinally to test the predictability of potential factors for the extent of psychopathological symptoms and psychosocial adjustment.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Hedwig Eisenbarth