Callous-Unemotional Behavior

References

https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2018/may/04/nature-or-nurture-unravelling-the-roots-of-childhood-behaviour-disorders
- QUOTE: … Those who lack moral emotions are classed as having “callous-unemotional” traits: persistent personality characteristics that make negotiating social situations difficult. The combination of callous-unemotional traits and antisocial behaviour in adolescents and adults is typically diagnosed as psychopathy. …
  … callous-unemotional behaviours in early childhood have been shown to predict aggressive behaviours, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder and are a risk factor for later psychopathy. …

(Frick & White, 2008) ⇒ Paul J. Frick, and Stuart F. White. (2008). “Research Review: The Importance of Callous‐unemotional Traits for Developmental Models of Aggressive and Antisocial Behavior.” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 49, no. 4
- ABSTRACT: The current paper reviews research suggesting that the presence of a callous and unemotional interpersonal style designates an important subgroup of antisocial and aggressive youth. Specifically, callous‐unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of guilt, absence of empathy, callous use of others) seem to be relatively stable across childhood and adolescence and they designate a group of youth with a particularly severe, aggressive, and stable pattern of antisocial behavior. Further, antisocial youth with CU traits show a number of distinct emotional, cognitive, and personality characteristics compared to other antisocial youth. These characteristics of youth with CU traits have important implications for causal models of antisocial and aggressive behavior, for methods used to study antisocial youth, and for assessing and treating antisocial and aggressive behavior in children and adolescents.