Callous-Unemotional Traits and Aggression: Maternal Parenting as a Developmental Moderator

Conduct Disorder (CD) is associated with persistent and severe forms of aggression, particularly among youth with callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Although CU traits are linked to proactive aggression, less is known about how environmental factors, such as parenting, shape these associations over time. The present study examined whether maternal and paternal warmth and hostility moderated the longitudinal associations between CU traits and proactive and reactive aggression in adolescents with CD. Participants included 148 youth with CD aged 12-17 years (M_age = 15.57, 69% male, 51% African American) assessed at baseline and 6 months. Hierarchical regression models tested moderation effects of maternal and paternal warmth and hostility between CU traits and aggression subtypes while controlling for baseline aggression. Maternal warmth and hostility significantly moderated the association between CU traits and proactive aggression, such that CU traits predicted increases in proactive aggression under conditions of low maternal warmth and high maternal hostility. No significant moderating effects were observed for reactive aggression or paternal parenting. Findings suggest that the influence of CU traits on aggression is context-dependent and varies across aggression subtypes, with maternal parenting playing a key role in shaping the development of proactive aggression. By highlighting the interaction between dispositional traits and caregiving environments, these results refine theoretical models of aggression and identify potential targets for intervention, suggesting that efforts to increase maternal warmth and reduce hostility may help mitigate risk for severe, goal-directed aggression in this high-risk population.