Trajectories of Child Psychopathic Traits and Later Socioemotional Functioning: Differential Associations with Emotion Recognition, Empathy, and Social-Affiliative Outcomes.

Abstract

Childhood psychopathic traits have been linked to socioemotional difficulties, but it remains unclear whether these difficulties primarily reflect impaired emotion recognition, reduced empathic and prosocial responsiveness, or broader social-affiliative problems. The present longitudinal study examined whether developmental trajectories of callous-unemotional (CU), grandiose-deceitful (GD), and impulsivity-need for stimulation (INS) traits predicted later socioemotional functioning in a community sample of 175 children (95 females; Mage = 5.28 years at Wave 1 and 10.33 years at Wave 5). Parent-reported CU, GD, and INS traits were assessed across five waves using the Child Problematic Traits Inventory. Latent growth models were used to estimate initial levels and developmental change in each trait dimension. Later outcomes included child performance-based emotion recognition and teacher-rated empathy and social-affiliative functioning, with baseline levels of each outcome controlled. CU traits showed the broadest pattern of associations. Higher initial CU levels predicted lower teacher-rated affective empathy, behavioral empathy, prosocial orientation, and social initiative, whereas increases in CU traits predicted poorer later teacher-rated prosocial orientation. GD traits showed a narrower pattern, predicting lower teacher-rated prosocial orientation and social initiative, while INS traits were associated only with lower teacher-rated prosocial orientation. Associations with child performance-based emotion recognition were sparse and limited to slope effects for happiness recognition in the CU model and sadness recognition in the GD model. Overall, childhood psychopathic traits, particularly CU traits, were more consistently associated with lower teacher-rated affective, prosocial, and social-affiliative functioning than with broad impairments in child performance-based emotion recognition.