What makes the difference? A cross-generation comparison of biological and psychosocial factors differentiating subgroups of children with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits

冷酷无情的特征(CU)与行为问题(品行障碍和对立违抗障碍；CP)结合在一起对反社会行为、治疗结果和其他变量的影响已在多项研究中得到证明，这导致了这样的印象，即具有额外CU特征的儿童构成了这种障碍中的一个受限亚型。然而，CU的特征并不只存在于CP，它们也出现在没有任何限制的精神病理学的儿童和青少年中。到目前为止，CP伴其他CU特征的儿童与仅有CU的儿童和青少年之间的生物学、神经心理和环境差异还没有得到深入的研究。这个项目的目的是首先，调查区分患有CP、CU的儿童群体的因素，这两种疾病都是典型的发育中儿童(TD)。其次，我们的目的是评估这些变量对CU儿童发育过程的影响，仅从TD、他们的心理病理症状和心理社会适应的负担方面进行比较。与以往的研究不同，本研究明确纳入了没有额外CP的CU儿童，并将其母亲的社会信息处理作为潜在的相关因素考虑在内。这项拟议的研究将阐明(1)生物因素(即对情感刺激的低自主神经反应)、(2)环境因素(即父母教养方式、父母心理健康)和(3)神经心理因素(即学习特征和情绪处理)如何区分这些群体。此外，同样的生物学和神经心理学因素将在儿童的母亲中进行评估，从而允许更全面地模型CU在CP的背景下和不在CP的背景下所起的作用。该项目包括一项横断面研究，其中CU和/或CP(与TD儿童相比)不同的儿童(7至9岁)及其母亲将接受一系列实验和心理生理测量。情绪处理将使用面部表情分类任务进行评估。将使用概率分类任务来调查学习特征。这些实验包括测量行为(例如，反应时间、点击次数等)。以及心理生理反应(例如心率、眼球运动、瞳孔放大等)，将对其进行分析。除了这一横断面设计外，CU儿童和TD儿童将接受纵向评估，以测试潜在因素对精神病理症状和心理社会适应程度的可预测性。

The impact of callous unemotional traits (CU) in combination with conduct problems (conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder; CP) on antisocial behavior, treatment outcome and other variables has been shown across studies, leading to the impression that children with additional CU-traits constitute a confined subtype within this disorder. However, CU traits do not exclusively present with CP, they also appear in children and adolescents without any confined psychopathology. So far, the biological, neuropsychological and environmental differences between children with CP and additional CU-traits and children and adolescents with CU only have not yet been investigated thoroughly. The aim of this project is first, to investigate factors that differentiate groups of children with CP, CU, both conditions and typically developing children (TD). Secondly, we aim to assess the influence of these variables on the developmental course of children with CU only in comparison to TD, their burden by psychopathological symptoms and psychosocial adjustment. Unlike earlier studies, this project explicitly includes CU children with no additional CP and takes social information processing of their mothers as potential relevant factors into account. The proposed research will elucidate how (1) biological factors (i.e. low autonomic reactivity to affective stimuli), (2) environmental factors (i.e. parenting, parental mental health), and (3) neuropsychological factors (i.e. learning characteristics and emotion processing) differentiate between these groups. Also, the same biological and neuropsychological factors will be assessed in mothers of the children, allowing for a more comprehensive model of the role of CU in and without the context of CP. The project includes a cross-sectional study in which children (aged 7 to 9 years), who vary with respect to CU and/or CP (and compared to TD children), and their mothers will undergo a series of experiments and psychophysiological measurements. Emotion processing will be assessed using a facial expression categorization task. A probabilistic classification task will be used to investigate learning characteristics. These experiments include measuring behavior (e.g. reaction time, hits, etc.) and psychophysiological responding (e.g. HR, eye movements, pupil dilation, etc.), which will be analyzed. In addition to this cross-sectional design, children with CU and children with TD will be assessed longitudinally to test the predictability of potential factors for the extent of psychopathological symptoms and psychosocial adjustment.