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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Aetiology of the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems in childhood
Essi Viding1, Paul J Frick, Robert Plomin
1Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, P080, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. e.viding@iop.kcl.ac.uk.
Background:
A callous and unemotional disposition is an indicator of early-onset antisocial behaviour.
Aims:
To investigate the extent to which genetic influences contribute to the overlap between callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems in a large population sample of 7-year-old twins.
Method:
Teachers provided ratings of callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems for 3434 twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study. Model-fitting analyses were performed across the continuum of scores and at the extremes.
Results:
The phenotypic relationship was primarily genetically mediated, both across the continuum and at the extremes and was substantial.
Conclusions:
At 7 years of age, genetic influences on callous-unemotional traits overlap substantially with genetic influences on conduct problems. This combination should guide selection criteria in future molecular genetic studies.
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