Indirect Effects of Early Parenting on Adult Antisocial Outcomes via Adolescent Conduct Disorder Symptoms and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Abstract

Parental harsh punishment and warmth have been associated with child and adolescent conduct disorder (CD) symptoms and callous-unemotional (CU) traits (i.e., lack of guilt, empathy, and deficient affect); however, it is unclear whether the effect of these parenting behaviors on antisocial outcomes persists into adulthood. Thus, the present study aimed to test whether adolescent CD symptoms and CU traits mediate the effect of parental harsh punishment and warmth on adult antisocial outcomes (i.e., antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), externalizing psychopathology, partner violence, and violent and substance crime). Participants included the high-risk control and normative samples from the Fast Track project (N =753, male = 58%, African American = 46%). Harsh punishment during kindergarten through grades 1–2 predicted higher adolescent CD symptoms, and directly observed warmth during kindergarten through grades 1–2 predicted lower adolescent CU traits. Adolescent CD symptoms predicted greater adult substance crime, and adolescent CU traits predicted greater adult ASPD symptoms and externalizing psychopathology. Further, adolescent CD symptoms indirectly accounted for the effect of parental harsh punishment on adult substance crime, and adolescent CU traits indirectly accounted for the effect of parental warmth on ASPD symptoms and externalizing psychopathology. Findings support the importance of early interventions targeting parenting behaviors to reduce risk for the development of antisocial behavior, and inform developmental models of antisocial behavior in adolescence through adulthood.

Acknowledgments

Members of the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, in alphabetical order, are Karen L. Bierman, Pennsylvania State University; John D. Coie, Duke University; D. Max Crowley, Pennsylvania State University; Kenneth A. Dodge, Duke University; Mark T. Greenberg, Pennsylvania State University; John E. Lochman, University of Alabama; Robert J. McMahon, Simon Fraser University and B.C. Children’s Hospital Research Institute, and Ellen E. Pinderhughes, Tufts University. We are grateful for the collaboration of the Durham Public Schools, the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, the Bellefonte Area Schools, the Tyrone Area Schools, the Mifflin County Schools, the Highline Public Schools, and the Seattle Public Schools. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the many staff members who implemented the project, collected the evaluation data, and assisted with data management and analyses.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Notes

¹ Analyses were repeated with a latent adult antisocial factor, with and without partner violence. These models provided adequate fit to the data (with partner violence: χ2(97) = 367.974, p < .001, CFI = .873, RMSEA = .061, 90% CI[.054, .068]; without partner violence: χ2(81) = 304.413, p < .001, CFI = .889, RMSEA = .061, 90% CI[.053 .068]); however, fit was poorer than in the model with separate adult constructs. Similar to the previous model, parental harsh punishment (with partner violence: β = .047, B(SE) = .741 (1.045), p = .478; without partner violence: β = .041, B(SE) = .646 (1.048), p = .538) and warmth (with partner violence: β = .053, B(SE) = .238 (.341), p = .484; without partner violence: β = .063, B(SE) = .248 (.353), p = .421) were not associated with adult antisocial behavior. Adolescent CD symptoms were not associated with adult antisocial behavior (with partner violence: β = .132, B(SE) = .289 (.167), p = .084; without partner violence: β = .126, B(SE) = .277 (.170), p = .103), but CU traits were significantly positively associated with adult antisocial behavior (with partner violence: β = .187, B(SE) = .170 (.048), p < .001; without partner violence: β = .190, B(SE) = .173 (.048), p < .001).

Additional information

Funding

The Fast Track project has been supported by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grants R18MH48043, R18MH50951, R18MH50952, R18MH50953, R01MH062988, K05MH00797, and K05MH01027; National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Grants R01DA016903, K05DA15226, RC1DA028248, and P30DA023026; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant R01HD093651; and Department of Education Grant S184U30002. The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention also provided support through a memorandum of agreement with the NIMH. Additional support for this study was provided by a B.C. Children's Hospital Research Institute Investigator Grant Award and a Canada Foundation for Innovation award to Robert J. McMahon.