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Published Online: 13 March 2024

Reciprocal Effects Between Negative Parenting and Children’s Callous-Unemotional Traits From Mid to Late Childhood

Patrizia Pezzoli, Ph.D. [email protected], Jean-Baptiste Pingault, Ph.D., Margherita Malanchini, Ph.D., Ivan Voronin, Ph.D., Eamon McCrory, Ph.D., D.Clin.Psy., Pasco Fearon, Ph.D., D.Clin.Psy., and Essi Viding, Ph.D.Authors Info & Affiliations
Publication: American Journal of Psychiatry
Volume 181, Number 4
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20230208
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Abstract

Objective:

The role of negative parenting in the development of callous-unemotional (CU) traits remains unclear. Both negative parenting and CU traits are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. The authors used genetically informed longitudinal cross-lagged models to examine the extent to which reciprocal effects between negative parenting and children’s CU traits in mid-to-late childhood are genetic versus environmental in origin.

Methods:

In 9,260 twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study, the authors estimated cross-lagged effects between negative parenting (discipline and feelings) and children’s CU traits in mid (ages 7–9) and late (ages 9–12) childhood.

Results:

CU traits were strongly heritable and stable. Stability was explained largely by genetic factors. The influence of negative parenting on the development of CU traits was small and driven mostly by genetic and shared environmental factors. In mid childhood, the influence of children’s CU traits on subsequent negative parenting (i.e., evoked by children’s CU traits) was also small and mostly genetic in origin. In late childhood, CU traits showed no effects on negative parental discipline and small effects on negative parental feelings, which reflected mostly shared environmental factors.

Conclusions:

In mid-to-late childhood, genetic factors strongly influenced the development of CU traits, whereas environmental effects of negative parenting were small. Negative parenting was also relatively unaffected by CU traits. The small reciprocal effects originated mostly from genetic and shared environmental factors. Therefore, repeated intensive interventions addressing multiple risk factors rather than negative parenting alone may be best positioned to support families of children with CU traits across development.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

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American Journal of Psychiatry
Volume 181 • Number 4 • April 01, 2024
Pages: 310 - 321
PubMed: 38476045

History

Received: 16 March 2023
Revision received: 13 July 2023
Revision received: 30 August 2023
Accepted: 14 September 2023
Published online: 13 March 2024
Published in print: April 01, 2024

Keywords

  1. Callous-Unemotional Traits
  2. Development
  3. Disruptive, Impulse-Control, and Conduct Disorders
  4. Environmental Risk Factors
  5. Genetic Influences
  6. Negative Parenting

Authors

Details

Patrizia Pezzoli, Ph.D. [email protected]
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London (Pezzoli, Pingault, McCrory, Fearon, Viding); Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London (Pingault, Malanchini); School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London (Malanchini); École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec (Voronin); Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. (Fearon).
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Jean-Baptiste Pingault, Ph.D.
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London (Pezzoli, Pingault, McCrory, Fearon, Viding); Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London (Pingault, Malanchini); School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London (Malanchini); École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec (Voronin); Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. (Fearon).
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Margherita Malanchini, Ph.D.
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London (Pezzoli, Pingault, McCrory, Fearon, Viding); Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London (Pingault, Malanchini); School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London (Malanchini); École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec (Voronin); Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. (Fearon).
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Ivan Voronin, Ph.D.
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London (Pezzoli, Pingault, McCrory, Fearon, Viding); Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London (Pingault, Malanchini); School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London (Malanchini); École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec (Voronin); Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. (Fearon).
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Eamon McCrory, Ph.D., D.Clin.Psy.
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London (Pezzoli, Pingault, McCrory, Fearon, Viding); Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London (Pingault, Malanchini); School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London (Malanchini); École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec (Voronin); Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. (Fearon).
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Pasco Fearon, Ph.D., D.Clin.Psy.
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London (Pezzoli, Pingault, McCrory, Fearon, Viding); Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London (Pingault, Malanchini); School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London (Malanchini); École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec (Voronin); Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. (Fearon).
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Essi Viding, Ph.D.
Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London (Pezzoli, Pingault, McCrory, Fearon, Viding); Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London (Pingault, Malanchini); School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London (Malanchini); École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec (Voronin); Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K. (Fearon).
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Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Pezzoli ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

Prof. Fearon serves as deputy editor-in-chief of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Prof. Viding serves as subject editor for Royal Society Open Science. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

Dr. Pezzoli was supported by the British Academy (grant SRG2223\231404, 2023–2024). Prof. Pingault was supported by the European Research Council (grant 863981), the Medical Research Foundation (grant MRF-160-0002-ELP-PINGA), MQ: Transforming Mental Health, the Nuffield Foundation, UK Research and Innovation, and the Wellcome Trust. Dr. Voronin was supported by postdoctoral scholarships from Réseau de recherche sur les déterminants périnataux de la santé de l’enfant (2021–2022) and Fonds de recherche du Québec–société et culture (2022–2024). Prof. Fearon was supported by the Department for Education, the Economic and Social Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust. Prof. Viding was supported by UK Research and Innovation (grants MR/V033905/1 and MR/W002485/1). The Twins Early Development Study was supported by the UK Medical Research Council (grants MR/V012878/1 to Prof. Thalia Eley and MR/M021475/1 to Prof. Robert Plomin), with additional support from NIH (grant AG046938).

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