Callous-Unemotional Traits and Intelligence in Children with Externalizing Behavioral Problems.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Fantozzi, Pamela Muratori, Pietro Levantini, Valentina Mammarella, Irene Masi, Gabriele Milone, Annarita Petrucci, Alessia Ricci, Federica Tacchi, Annalisa Cristofani, Chiara Valente, Elena
Editor	Chiappedi, Matteo Alessio
Copyright Year	2022
Abstract	Research on the association between callous–unemotional (CU) traits and intelligence yielded contradictory results. Moreover, several previous studies focused on global intelligence scores or verbal vs. nonverbal/performance abilities usually evaluated with short/abbreviated instruments. The current study builds on these previous works and explores the link between CU traits and intelligence using the full version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—4th Edition (WISC-IV), which provides four different verbal and nonverbal abilities scores. This guarantees a more detailed evaluation of children’s intelligence and its relation to CU traits. The sample included children (N = 149; age 6–14 years old) with severe behavioral problems. Clinicians administered the WISC-IV, and parents completed questionnaires evaluating the child’s externalizing problems and CU traits. Findings showed that CU traits were associated with lower verbal comprehension scores after also controlling for gender, age, externalizing problems, and the other WISC-IV indexes. In addition, CU traits and externalizing problems did not interact in predicting the WISC-IV indexes, and there were no significant differences in the WISC-IV indexes between children with CU traits and high vs. low externalizing problems. The current study suggests the relevance of assessing and addressing verbal abilities in children with behavioral problems and CU traits.
Volume Number	9
PubMed Central reference number	PMC9689262
Issue Number	11
PubMed reference number	36421217
Journal	Children (Basel)
e-ISSN	22279067
DOI	10.3390/children9111768
Language	English
Publisher	MDPI
Publisher Date	2022-11-17
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). © 2022 by the authors.
Subject Keyword	verbal abilities callous–unemotional conduct problems verbal comprehension ADHD oppositional defiant disorder conduct disorder
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health