Predictive and incremental validity of adolescent callous-unemotional traits: longitudinal prediction of antisocial and social outcomes in early adulthood.

Background: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits were recently added as a diagnostic specifier for disruptive behavior disorders, largely due to their prognostic utility. However, past longitudinal research has yielded mixed results when investigating associations between CU traits and long-term outcomes, particularly when controlling for the individual's level of antisocial behavior.

Methods: The current study investigated the longitudinal predictive utility of CU traits in a sample of 1,216 adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system who were followed for 7 years after their first arrest. Growth models of CU traits throughout adolescence were used to predict a variety of young adult outcomes (e.g., aggression, financially-motivated crime, and social impairment) while controlling for the trajectory of antisocial behavior throughout adolescence.

Results: Results indicated that adolescent CU traits predicted a variety of antisocial and social outcomes. While several of these associations were no longer significant after accounting for antisocial behavior, CU traits incrementally predicted several early adulthood outcomes (e.g., more arrests, greater aggression, lower quality relationships with friends and romantic partners) when controlling for both the level and degree of change in antisocial behavior.

Conclusions: Results support that CU traits are clinically useful when identifying risk for problematic outcomes and highlight the need for effective intervention for youth with elevated CU traits.