Callous/Unemotional Traits Moderate the Relation Between Ineffective Parenting and Child Externalizing Problems: A Partial Replication and Extension

Abstract

We replicated and extended Wootton, Frick, Shelton, and Silverthorn's (1997) finding that children's callous/unemotional (C/U) traits moderated the association between poor parenting and children's externalizing problems. C/U traits were indexed (a) as dichotomous scores (D-C/U) above or below a cut score on the original C/U subscale and (b) as continuous scores (C-C/U-R) on the revised C/U subscale. Results did not support a moderating role for D-C/U scores, but significant interactions were found between C-C/U-R scores and poor parenting when predicting teachers and peers ratings of externalizing behavior. Poor parenting was unrelated to problem behavior in children with relatively high C-C/U-R scores.