Social cognitive, parental, and family functioning profiles of children with conduct problems and different levels of callous-unemotional traits

• Main Author: Roberts, Ruth E
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: UCL (University College London) 2021

This thesis was conducted with the broad aim of advancing the understanding of social cognition, parenting, and family functioning in children with conduct problems (CP) and high levels of callous-unemotional traits (CP/HCU), children with CP and low levels of callous-unemotional traits (CP/LCU) and typically developing children (TD) children and their parents/caregivers. In Chapter 2, development of new task that assesses ability to understand how antisocial acts are perceived by others is described. In Chapter 3, children with CP/HCU showed an intact ability to represent mental states of others, but a reduced tendency to update mental state inferences as a function of different minds, when compared to children with CP/LCU and TD children. In Chapter 4, we found a similar pattern of mentalising in parents/caregivers of CP/HCU children, as compared with parents/caregivers of CP/LCU and TD children. In Chapter 5, parents/caregivers of CP children reported elevated rates of inconsistent discipline compared with parents/caregivers of TD children. CP/HCU children reported difficulty with monitoring their child, as compared to the other two groups. Children with CP/HCU reported reduced involvement with their fathers. Qualitative reports by parents and children provided possible explanations of how and why it is difficult and disheartening to parent children with CP. In Chapter 6, parents/caregivers of CP/HCU children reported significantly poorer quality of family's affective involvement than parents/caregivers of CP/LCU and TD children, as well as differences in roles and general functioning. Parent/caregiver qualitative descriptions offered a more nuanced insight into potential factors contributing to differences in family functioning.