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

多项研究显示，冷酷无情特质（CU）与行为问题（品行障碍和对立违抗性障碍；CP）结合对反社会行为、治疗结果和其他变量的影响，导致有其他CU特质的儿童在这种障碍中构成了一个受限制的亚型。然而，CU特征并不仅仅存在于CP中，它们也出现在没有任何局限性精神病理的儿童和青少年中。到目前为止，还没有对患有CP和其他CU特征的儿童和青少年之间的生物学、神经心理学和环境差异进行深入的研究。该项目的目的首先是调查区分患有CP、CU、两种情况和典型发育儿童（TD）的儿童群体的因素。其次，我们的目的是评估这些变量对CU儿童发展过程的影响，仅与TD相比，他们的精神病理症状负担和社会心理适应。与之前的研究不同，本项目明确纳入了没有额外CP的CU儿童，并将其母亲的社会信息加工作为潜在的相关因素考虑在内。该研究将阐明(1)生物因素（即对情感刺激的低自主反应性），(2)环境因素（即父母养育，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，将对孩子的母亲进行相同的生物和神经心理因素评估，以建立一个更全面的模型，了解在CP背景下和没有CP背景下CU的作用。该项目包括一项横断面研究，其中7至9岁的儿童（与TD儿童相比）在CU和/或CP方面有所不同，他们的母亲将接受一系列实验和心理生理测量。情绪处理将通过面部表情分类任务进行评估。概率分类任务将用于研究学习特征。这些实验包括测量行为（如反应时间，击中等）和心理生理反应（如HR，眼球运动，瞳孔扩张等），这些将被分析。除了这种横断面设计外，还将对CU患儿和TD患儿进行纵向评估，以测试精神病理症状和社会心理适应程度的潜在因素的可预测性。

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.