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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CALLOUS-UNEMOTIONAL TRAITS AND SYMPTOMS OF CONDUCT DISORDER: A META-ANALYSIS
Abstract
Several studies point to the relationship between callous-unemotional (CU) traits and symptoms of conduct disorder (CD) across different age groups. In case of young children and adolescents, it was found that in the presence of CU traits, externalizing behaviors are significantly more severe, as opposed to children who do not show CU traits. Integrating results from 11 studies, we analyzed data collected from n = 4381 participants from different age groups, ranging from toddlers to adolescents, to draw attention to the relationship between CU traits and symptoms of CD in this population. There was found a moderate, significant positive correlation (r = 0.37, 95 % CI [0.34, 0.44], p < 0.001) between CU traits and symptoms of CD. Moderation analysis suggests that gender does not affect the strength of this relationship, as opposed to age and type of informant, which influence the relationship between CU traits and symptoms of CD, as moderator variables. Results support the idea that CU traits should be monitored and paid close attention to starting from a very young age, in order to prevent the development of clinical problems.
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