Top

Published in:

Open Access 01-08-2017 | Original Contribution

The role of infants’ mother-directed gaze, maternal sensitivity, and emotion recognition in childhood callous unemotional behaviours

Authors: R. Bedford, N. J. Wagner, P. D. Rehder, C. Propper, M. T. Willoughby, R. W. Mills-Koonce

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 8/2017

Abstract

While some children with callous unemotional (CU) behaviours show difficulty recognizing emotional expressions, the underlying developmental pathways are not well understood. Reduced infant attention to the caregiver’s face and a lack of sensitive parenting have previously been associated with emerging CU features. The current study examined whether facial emotion recognition mediates the association between infants’ mother-directed gaze, maternal sensitivity, and later CU behaviours. Participants were 206 full-term infants and their families from a prospective longitudinal study, the Durham Child Health and Development Study (DCHDS). Measures of infants’ mother-directed gaze, and maternal sensitivity were collected at 6 months, facial emotion recognition performance at 6 years, and CU behaviours at 7 years. A path analysis showed a significant effect of emotion recognition predicting CU behaviours (β = −0.275, S.E. = 0.084, p = 0.001). While the main effects of infants' mother-directed gaze and maternal sensitivity were not significant, their interaction significantly predicted CU behaviours (β = 0.194, S.E. = 0.081, p = 0.016) with region of significance analysis showing a significant negative relationship between infant gaze and later CU behaviours only for those with low maternal sensitivity. There were no indirect effects of infants’ mother-directed gaze, maternal sensitivity or the mother-directed gaze by maternal sensitivity interaction via emotion recognition. Emotion recognition appears to act as an independent predictor of CU behaviours, rather than mediating the relationship between infants’ mother-directed gaze and maternal sensitivity with later CU behaviours. This supports the idea of multiple risk factors for CU behaviours.

Available only for authorised users

Achenbach TM, Rescorla L (2000). Child behavior checklist. Burlington

Ainsworth MS, Blehar MC, Waters E, Wall S (1978) Patterns of attachment: a psychological study of the strange situation. Erlbaum, Oxford

Adamson LB, Frick JE (2003) The still face: a history of a shared experimental paradigm. Infancy 4(4):451–473CrossRef

Adolphs R, Gosselin F, Buchanan TW, Tranel D, Schyns P, Damasio AR (2005) A mechanism for impaired fear recognition after amygdala damage. Nature 433(7021):68–72CrossRefPubMed

Barker E, Oliver B, Viding E, Salekin R, Maughan B (2011) The impact of prenatal maternal risk, fearless temperament, and early parenting on adolescent callous-unemotional traits: a 14-year longitudinal investigation. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 52:878–888CrossRefPubMed

Bedford R, Pickles A, Sharp H, Wright N, Hill J (2015) Reduced face preference in infancy: a developmental precursor to callous-unemotional traits? Biol Psychiatry 78(2):144–150CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Blair RJR (1995) A cognitive developmental approach to morality: investigating the psychopath. Cognition 57(1):1–29CrossRefPubMed

Blair RJR, Colledge E, Murray L, Mitchell DGV (2001) A selective impairment in the processing of sad and fearful expressions in children with psychopathic tendencies. J Abnorm Child Psychol 29(6):491–498CrossRefPubMed

Bowlby J (1969). Attachment and loss: attachment, vol. 3. Basic books

10.

Bretherton I, Munholland KA (1999). Internal working models in attachment relationships: a construct revisited. In Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications, pp 89–111

11.

Centifanti LCM, Meins E, Fernyhough C (2015) Callous-unemotional traits and impulsivity: distinct longitudinal relations with mind-mindedness and understanding of others. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12445 PubMedPubMedCentral

12.

Cicchetti D, Tucker D (1994) Development and self-regulatory structures of the mind. Dev Psychopathol 6:533–549CrossRef

13.

Dadds MR, Allen JL, McGregor K, Woolgar M, Viding E, Scott S (2014) Callous-unemotional traits in children and mechanisms of impaired eye contact during expressions of love: a treatment target? J Child Psychol Psychiatry 55:771–780CrossRefPubMed

14.

Dadds MR, Cauchi AJ, Wimalaweera S, Hawes DJ, Brennan J (2012) Outcomes, moderators, and mediators of empathic-emotion recognition training for complex conduct problems in childhood. Psychiatry Res 199(3):201–207CrossRefPubMed

15.

Dadds MR, El Masry Y, Wimalaweera S, Guastella AJ (2008) Reduced eye gaze explains fear blindness in childhood psychopathic traits. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 47:455–463CrossRefPubMed

16.

Dadds MR, Jambrak J, Pasalich D, Hawes DJ, Brennan J (2011) Impaired attention to the eyes of attachment figures and the developmental origins of psychopathy. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 52:238–245CrossRefPubMed

17.

Dadds MR, Perry Y, Hawes DJ, Merz S, Riddell AC et al (2006) Attention to the eyes and fear-recognition deficits in child psychopathy. Br J Psychiatry 189:280–281CrossRefPubMed

18.

Dawel A, O’Kearney R, McKone E, Palermo R (2012) Not just fear and sadness: meta-analytic evidence of pervasive emotion recognition deficits for facial and vocal expressions in psychopathy. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36(10):2288–2304CrossRefPubMed

19.

Deklyen M, Greenberg MT (2008) Attachment and psychopathology in childhood. In Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications

20.

Doan SN, Fuller-Rowell TE, Evans GW (2012) Cumulative risk and adolescent’s internalizing and externalizing problems: the mediating roles of maternal responsiveness and self-regulation. Dev Psychol 48(6):1529–1539. doi:10.1037/a0027815 CrossRefPubMed

21.

Eisenberg N, Cumberland A, Spinrad TL (1998) Parental socialization of emotion. Psychol Inq 9(4):241–273. doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0904_1 CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

22.

Enders CK, Bandalos DL (2001) The relative performance of full information maximum likelihood estimation for missing data in structural equation models. Struct Equ Model 8(3):430–457CrossRef

23.

Essau CA, Sasagawa S, Frick PJ (2006) Callous-unemotional traits in a community sample of adolescents. Assessment 13(4):454–469CrossRefPubMed

24.

Ezpeleta L, Osa NDL, Granero R, Penelo E, Domènech JM (2013) Inventory of callous-unemotional traits in a community sample of preschoolers. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 42(1):91–105CrossRefPubMed

25.

Fanti KA, Frick PJ, Georgiou S (2009) Linking callous-unemotional traits to instrumental and non-instrumental forms of aggression. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 31(4):285–298CrossRef

26.

Fearon RP, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Van IJzendoorn MH, Lapsley AM, Roisman GI (2010) The significance of insecure attachment and disorganization in the development of children’s externalizing behavior: a meta-analytic study. Child Dev 81(2):435–456CrossRefPubMed

27.

Fite PJ, Greening L, Stoppelbein L (2008) Relation between parenting stress and psychopathic traits among children. Behav Sci Law 26(2):239–248. doi:10.1002/bsl.803 CrossRefPubMed

28.

Frick PJ (2004). The inventory of callous-unemotional traits. Unpublished rating scale: University of New Orleans

29.

Frick PJ, Ray JV, Thornton LC, Kahn RE (2014) Can callous-unemotional traits enhance the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of serious conduct problems in children and adolescents? A comprehensive review. Psychol Bull 140(1):1CrossRefPubMed

30.

Frick PJ, White SF (2008) Research review: the importance of callous-unemotional traits for developmental models of aggressive and antisocial behavior. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 49(4):359–375CrossRefPubMed

31.

Fury G, Carlson EA, Sroufe LA (1997) Children’s representations of attachment relationships in family drawings. Child Dev 68:1154–1164. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb01991.x CrossRefPubMed

32.

Hawes DJ, Dadds MR, Frost AD, Hasking PA (2011) Do childhood callous-unemotional traits drive change in parenting practices? J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 40(4):507–518CrossRefPubMed

33.

Hyde LW, Waller R, Trentacosta CJ, Shaw DS, Neiderhiser JM, Ganiban JM, Leve LD (2016) Heritable and nonheritable pathways to early callous-unemotional behaviors. Am J Psychiatry. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2016.15111381

34.

Kimonis ER, Frick PJ, Skeem JL, Marsee MA, Cruise K, Munoz LC, Morris AS (2008) Assessing callous–unemotional traits in adolescent offenders: validation of the inventory of callous-unemotional traits. Int J Law Psychiatry 31(3):241–252CrossRefPubMed

35.

Kochanska G, Aksan N, Knaack A, Rhines HM (2004) Maternal parenting and children’s conscience: early security as moderator. Child Dev 75(4):1229–1242CrossRefPubMed

36.

Kochanska G, Forman DR, Aksan N, Dunbar SB (2005) Pathways to conscience: early mother-child mutually responsive orientation and children’s moral emotion, conduct, and cognition. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discipl 46(1):19–34. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00348.x CrossRef

37.

Kochanska G, Murray KT (2013) Mother-child mutually responsive orientation and conscience development: from toddler to early school’ age. Child Dev 71(2):417–431CrossRef

38.

Kochanska G, Kim S (2012) Toward a new understanding of legacy of early attachments for future antisocial trajectories: evidence from two longitudinal studies. Dev Psychopathol 24(3):783–806. doi:10.1017/S0954579412000375 CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

39.

Kochanska G, Barry RA, Stellern SA, O’bleness JJ (2009) Early attachment organization moderates the parent–child mutually coercive pathway to children’s antisocial conduct. Child Dev 80(4):1288–1300CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

40.

Kochanska G, Thompson RA (1997). The emergence and development of conscience in toddlerhood and early childhood. In Parenting and children’s internalization of values: a handbook of contemporary theory, pp 53–77

41.

Kochanska G, Kim S, Boldt LJ, Yoon JE (2013) Children’s callous-unemotional traits moderate links between their positive relationships with parents at preschool age and externalizing behavior problems at early school age. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discipl 54(11):1251–1260. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12084 CrossRef

42.

Laible DJ, Thompson RA (2000) Mother-child discourse, attachment security, shared positive affect, and early conscience development. Child Dev 71(5):1424–1440. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00237 CrossRefPubMed

43.

Laranjo J, Bernier A, Meins E (2008) Associations between maternal mind-mindedness and infant attachment security: investigating the mediating role of maternal sensitivity. Infant Behav Dev 31:688–695. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2008.04.008 CrossRefPubMed

44.

McElwain NL, Cox MJ, Burchinal MR, Macfie J (2003) Differentiating among insecure mother-infant attachment classifications: a focus on child-friend interaction and exploration during solitary play at 36 months. Attach Hum Dev 5(2):136–164. doi:10.1080/1461673031000108513 CrossRefPubMed

45.

McMahon CA, Meins E (2012) Mind-mindedness, parenting stress, and emotional availability in mothers of preschoolers. Early Child Res Quart 27(2):245–252. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.08.002 CrossRef

46.

Mills-Koonce WR, Willoughby MT, Garrett-Peters P, Wagner N, Vernon-Feagans L (2016) The interplay among socioeconomic status, household chaos, and parenting in the prediction of child conduct problems and callous–unemotional behaviors. Dev Psychopathol 28(3):757–771CrossRefPubMed

47.

Moore GA, Hill-Soderlund AL, Propper CB, Calkins SD, Mills-Koonce WR, Cox MJ (2009) Mother–infant vagal regulation in the face-to-face still-face paradigm is moderated by maternal sensitivity. Child Dev 80(1):209–223CrossRefPubMed

48.

Moore GA, Powers CJ, Bass AJ, Cohn JF, Propper CB, Allen NB, Lewinsohn PM (2013) Dyadic interaction: greater than the sum of its parts? Infancy 18(4):490–515CrossRef

49.

Muñoz LC (2009) Callous-unemotional traits are related to combined deficits in recognizing afraid faces and body poses. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 48(5):554–562CrossRefPubMed

50.

Muthén LK, Muthén BO (1998–2007) Mplus user’s guide. 5th edn. Muthén & Muthén, Los Angeles

51.

NICHD ECCRN (1999) Child care and mother-child interaction in the first three years of life. Dev Psychol 35:1399–1413. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.35.6.1399 CrossRef

52.

Pasalich DS, Dadds MR, Hawes DJ, Brennan J (2012) Attachment and callous-unemotional traits in children with early-onset conduct problems. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discipl 53(8):838–845. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02544.x CrossRef

53.

Pasalich DS, Dadds MR, Vincent LC, Cooper FA, Hawes DJ, Brennan J (2012) Emotional communication in families of conduct problem children with high versus low callous-unemotional traits. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 41(3):302–313CrossRefPubMed

54.

Roisman GI, Newman DA, Fraley RC, Haltigan JD, Groh AM, Haydon KC (2012) Distinguishing differential susceptibility from diathesis–stress: recommendations for evaluating interaction effects. Dev Psychopathol 24(02):389–409CrossRefPubMed

55.

Roose A, Bijttebier P, Decoene S, Claes L, Frick PJ (2010) Assessing the affective features of psychopathy in adolescence: a further validation of the inventory of callous and unemotional traits. Assessment 17(1):44–57CrossRefPubMed

56.

Schultz D, Izard CE, Bear G (2004) Children’s emotion processing: relations to emotionality and aggression. Dev Psychopathol 16(02):371–387CrossRefPubMed

57.

Skuse D (2003) Fear recognition and the neural basis of social cognition. Child Adolesc Ment Health 8(2):50–60CrossRef

58.

Sroufe LA (1996) Emotional development: the organization of emotional life in the early years. Camb Stud Soc Emot Dev. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511527661

59.

StataCorp (2015) Stata statistical software: release 14. StataCorp LP, College Station

60.

Stevens D, Charman T, Blair RJR (2001) Recognition of emotion in facial expressions and vocal tones in children with psychopathic tendencies. J Genet Psychol 162(2):201–211CrossRefPubMed

61.

Taumoepeau M, Ruffman T (2006) Mother and infant talk about mental states relates to desire language and emotion understanding. Child Dev 77(2):465–481. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00882.x CrossRefPubMed

62.

Trentacosta CJ, Hyde LW, Shaw DS, Dishion TJ, Gardner F, Wilson M (2008) The relations among cumulative risk, parenting, and behavior problems during early childhood. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discipl 49(11):1211–1219. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01941.x

63.

Tronick EZ, Als H, Adamson L, Wise S, Brazelton TB (1978) The infant’s response to entrapment between contradictory messages in face-to-face interaction. J Am Acad Child Psychiatry 17:1–13CrossRefPubMed

64.

Tronick EZ (1989) Emotions and emotional communication in infants. Am Psychol 44(2):112–119. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.44.2.112 CrossRefPubMed

65.

Tronick EZ, Bruschweiler-Stern N, Harrison AM, Lyons-Ruth K, Morgan AC, Nahum JP, Stern DN (1998) Dyadically expanded states of consciousness and the process of therapeutic change. Infant Ment Health J 19(3):290–299CrossRef

66.

Wagner NJ, Mills-koonce WR, Willoughby MT, Zvara B, Martha J, Behaviors C, Willoughby MT (2015) Parenting and children’ s representations of family predict disruptive and callous-unemotional behaviors. Dev Psychol 51:935CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

67.

Wagner NJ, Mills-Koonce WR, Propper CB, Willoughby MT, Rehder PD, Moore GA, Cox MJ (2016) Associations between infant behaviors during the face-to-face still-face paradigm and oppositional defiant and callous-unemotional behaviors in early childhood. J Abnorm Child Psychol 44:1439. doi:10.1007/s10802-016-0141-0 CrossRefPubMed

68.

Waller R, Gardner F, Hyde LW (2013) What are the associations between parenting, callous–unemotional traits, and antisocial behavior in youth? A systematic review of evidence. Clin Psychol Rev 33(4):593–608CrossRefPubMed

69.

Waller R, Gardner F, Viding E, Shaw DS, Dishion TJ, Wilson MN, Hyde LW (2014) Bidirectional associations between parental warmth, callous unemotional behavior, and behavior problems in high-risk preschoolers. J Abnorm Child Psychol 42(8):1275–1285. doi:10.1007/s10802-014-9871-z CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

70.

Waller R, Shaw DS, Neiderhiser JM, Ganiban JM, Natsuaki MN, Reiss D, Hyde LW (2015) Toward an understanding of the role of the environment in the development of early callous behavior. J Personal

71.

Waters E, Wippman J, Sroufe LA (1979) Attachment, positive affect, and competence in the peer group: two studies in construct validation. Child Dev 50:821–829. doi:10.2307/1128949 CrossRefPubMed

72.

Willoughby MT, Mills-Koonce WR, Propper CB, Waschbusch DA (2013) Observed parenting behaviors interact with a poly- morphism of the brain derived neurotrophic factor gene to predict the emergence of oppositional defiant and callous-unemotional behaviors at age 3 years. Dev Psychopathol 25:903–917. doi:10.1017/S0954579413000266 CrossRefPubMed

73.

Willoughby M, Burchinal M, Garrett-peters P, Mills-koonce R, Vernon-feagans L, Cox M (2013) Recruitment of the family life project sample. Monogr Soc Res Child Dev 78(5):24–35. doi:10.1111/mono.12048 CrossRef

74.

Willoughby MT, Mills-Koonce R, Propper CB, Waschbusch DA (2013) Observed parenting behaviors interact with a polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene to predict the emergence of oppositional defiant and callous-unemotional behaviors at age 3 years. Dev Psychopathol 25(4 Pt 1):903–917. doi:10.1017/S0954579413000266 CrossRefPubMed

75.

Willoughby MT, Waschbusch DA, Moore GA, Propper CB (2011) Using the ASEBA to screen for callous unemotional traits in early childhood: factor structure, temporal stability, and utility. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 33(1):19–30CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

76.

Willoughby MT, Mills-Koonce WR, Gottfredson NC, Wagner N (2014) Measuring attention-deficit/hyperactive-impulsive, conduct, and callous unemotional behaviors in early childhood: factor structure, predictive validity, and the moderating role of attachment disorganization. Psychopathol Behav Assess 36(1):30–42CrossRef

77.

Wootton JM, Frick PJ, Shelton KK, Silverthorn P (1997) Ineffective parenting and childhood conduct problems: the moderating role of callous-unemotional traits. J Consult Clin Psychol 65(2):301CrossRefPubMed

Title: The role of infants’ mother-directed gaze, maternal sensitivity, and emotion recognition in childhood callous unemotional behaviours
Authors: R. Bedford
N. J. Wagner
P. D. Rehder
C. Propper
M. T. Willoughby
R. W. Mills-Koonce
Publication date: 01-08-2017
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 8/2017
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-017-0967-1

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

The role of infants’ mother-directed gaze, maternal sensitivity, and emotion recognition in childhood callous unemotional behaviours

Abstract

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 8/2017

Further evidence for the role of pregnancy-induced hypertension and other early life influences in the development of ADHD: results from the IDEFICS study

Comparative efficacy and safety of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder pharmacotherapies, including guanfacine extended release: a mixed treatment comparison

Are lifetime affective disorders predictive of long-term outcome in severe adolescent anorexia nervosa?

‘Emotiplay’: a serious game for learning about emotions in children with autism: results of a cross-cultural evaluation

Erratum to: Individual and peer factors associated with ketamine use among adolescents in Taiwan

Cyberbullying: a storm in a teacup?