Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 19, 2026

Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia
Published on: December 2, 2015
Intergenerational Stability of Callous-Unemotional Traits
Antonio Mendoza Diaz1, Sandy Overgaauw2, David J Hawes3
1Child Behavior Research Clinic, School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. amen1531@uni.sydney.edu.au.
Abstract:
This study investigated the stability of callous and unemotional (CU) traits across generations by assessing self-report assessments of psychopathy factors in parents and their relationship to children's CU traits in a clinical sample: 223 boys (M age = 7.65) and 83 girls (M = 7.35) referred for treatment of disruptive behavior disorders. First, we expanded previous findings showing a positive relationship between maternal psychopathy scores and CU traits in boys. Second, we tested whether parental psychopathy scores predicted CU traits in children over and above general indicators of mental health risk: parental psychopathology, parental warmth, and harsh parenting. Fathers' psychopathy factor 1 was uniquely related to CU traits. In contrast, the relationship between mothers' psychopathy factor 2 and children's CU traits disappeared when maternal warmth was included. Gender differences suggested these results are most applicable to boys. These findings support the intergenerational stability of psychopathy factor 1 between children and their fathers.
Related Concept Videos
Socioemotional Development during Infancy
Primary Temperament Types
Relationship with Parents: Attachment
Personality Theory by Eysenck and Eysenck
In the extroversion/introversion dimension, highly extroverted people are sociable, outgoing, and easily connect with others. In contrast,...
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Traits and States
Attachment Styles

