Child conduct problems commonly co-occur with callous-unemotional (CU) traits and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which are both associated with empathy deficits; however, their unique associations are poorly understood because few studies consider the high overlap between CU traits and ASD. This study addressed this knowledge gap by investigating the unique associations between CU traits and ASD symptoms, and components of empathy (attention to others’ distress, emotion recognition, understanding emotional states, empathic responding), and differences between children classified into clinical groups (conduct problems with and without CU traits and ASD) and typically developing children. Parents reported on their child’s psychopathology symptoms and empathy, and children completed laboratory tasks measuring empathy components. Results indicated that ASD symptoms, but not CU traits, were uniquely associated with emotion recognition deficits. Meanwhile, CU traits were uniquely associated with reduced empathic responding, and this relationship was exacerbated with ASD symptoms. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
While existing research has documented parental perfectionism on adolescent social anxiety, relatively little attention has been paid to the longitudinal reciprocal associations among parental child‑oriented perfectionism (COP), parental negative attribution, and adolescents’ social anxiety. This study tracked 2228 Chinese adolescents (baseline Mage = 12.95 ± 0.79 years, 46.3
Rumination is thought to be a key mechanism contributing to onset and persistence of depression. We aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of a measure of rumination, the Children’s Response Styles Questionnaire (CRSQ), in a sample of UK adolescents (11–16 years; N = 615) who also completed measures of anxiety and depression symptoms. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-factor solution: ‘rumination’ and ‘distraction and problem-solving’ (DPS), however the DPS subscale was weaker due to item removal. Full and partial measurement invariance was demonstrated for age and gender respectively. The rumination subscale showed good internal consistency, and it is moderately positively correlated with depression and anxiety symptom measures. Our study suggests that the rumination subscale is both reliable and valid and indicates that the measure could be used in research with UK adolescents, however caution is needed if using the DPS subscale. Future research in clinical populations is warranted.
This study examined how childhood maltreatment, bullying victimization, and weakness in social competition co-occur and are associated with adolescent adjustment through belief in a just world (BJW). Data were collected from 1,302 Chinese adolescents over six months. Latent profile analysis identified three adversity profiles: low-adversity profile (84.2%), moderate-adversity, predominantly family maltreatment profile (11.2%), and high-adversity, predominantly peer-related profile (4.6%). Adolescents in the moderate- and high-adversity profiles reported more depressive and externalizing symptoms than those in the low-adversity profile, with the high-adversity profile showing the highest symptom levels. Multicategorical mediation analyses indicated that both general and personal BJW indirectly linked adversity profiles to depressive symptoms, whereas only general BJW indirectly linked adversity profiles to externalizing symptoms. The findings highlight the importance of co-occurring adversity patterns and suggest that BJW may serve as a partial psychological mechanism linking adversity profiles to adolescent adjustment.
Parent-report screening measures accurately capturing socio-emotional or behavioral (SEB) symptoms in preschool-aged children are needed to identify children requiring support. This study investigated the assessment stability of SEB symptoms in a preschool community population. Parents (N = 178) of children aged 3–5 years, completed the PSC-17, Preschool Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PPSC) and Child Behavior Checklist at baseline, 3-month and 6-month follow-up. At baseline, clinicians interviewed parents using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Adolescents and Parents (DISCAP-V), and Children’s Global Assessment Scale. PPSC and PSC-17 total scores, externalizing and attention subscales had significant measurement stability across time. Both PSC measures had moderate–strong correlations with clinical diagnoses, with the exception of internalizing disorders. Predictive validity of PSC measures with DISCAP-V diagnoses resulted in mixed findings. Findings that parent-report screening measures are associated with clinical diagnoses further justifies their use as a low-cost, first step in early-intervention models for preschool children.
