TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal emotional intelligence and negative parenting affect are independently associated with callous-unemotional traits in preschoolers
AU - Brady, Rebecca G.
AU - Donohue, Meghan Rose
AU - Waller, Rebecca
AU - Tillman, Rebecca
AU - Gilbert, Kirsten E.
AU - Whalen, Diana J.
AU - Rogers, Cynthia
AU - Barch, Deanna M.
AU - Luby, Joan L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01MH064769-06A1, K23MH125023, K23MH115074, K23 MH118426, F30 HD104313-01A1), Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center at Washington University (U54-HD087011), and the Washington University Medical Scientist Training Program. The authors would like to thank the Early Emotional Development Program and the families involved with the study.
Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01MH064769-06A1, K23MH125023, K23MH115074, K23 MH118426, F30 HD104313-01A1), Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center at Washington University (U54-HD087011), and the Washington University Medical Scientist Training Program.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Deficits in emotion intelligence (EI) are a key component of early-childhood callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Children’s EI may be influenced by their mother’s EI through both familial genetic and environmental mechanisms; however, no study has directly tested the role of maternal EI in the development of CU traits. This study investigated whether maternal EI had a direct relationship with children’s CU traits when controlling for the potential influence of parenting affect and other psychiatric diagnoses. Mothers and their 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers (N = 200) were recruited as part of a parent–child interaction—emotion development therapy treatment trial for preschool clinical depression and comorbid psychopathology. Using data collected prior to treatment, regression models tested whether maternal EI was related to children’s CU traits, which specific aspects of maternal EI were most strongly associated with CU traits, and whether associations held after accounting for observed parenting affect. Maternal EI (p < 0.005), specifically the ability to understand others’ emotions (p < 0.01), was significantly associated with children’s CU traits. This relationship was specific, as maternal EI did not predict depression or oppositional defiant disorder. Both maternal EI and observed negative parenting affect were independently and significantly related to CU traits (p < 0.05) in a combined model. Given that maternal EI and observed negative parenting affect were independent predictors of CU traits in preschoolers with comorbid depression, findings suggest that current treatments for CU traits that focus solely on improving parenting could be made more effective by targeting maternal EI and helping mothers better model emotional competence.
AB - Deficits in emotion intelligence (EI) are a key component of early-childhood callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Children’s EI may be influenced by their mother’s EI through both familial genetic and environmental mechanisms; however, no study has directly tested the role of maternal EI in the development of CU traits. This study investigated whether maternal EI had a direct relationship with children’s CU traits when controlling for the potential influence of parenting affect and other psychiatric diagnoses. Mothers and their 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers (N = 200) were recruited as part of a parent–child interaction—emotion development therapy treatment trial for preschool clinical depression and comorbid psychopathology. Using data collected prior to treatment, regression models tested whether maternal EI was related to children’s CU traits, which specific aspects of maternal EI were most strongly associated with CU traits, and whether associations held after accounting for observed parenting affect. Maternal EI (p < 0.005), specifically the ability to understand others’ emotions (p < 0.01), was significantly associated with children’s CU traits. This relationship was specific, as maternal EI did not predict depression or oppositional defiant disorder. Both maternal EI and observed negative parenting affect were independently and significantly related to CU traits (p < 0.05) in a combined model. Given that maternal EI and observed negative parenting affect were independent predictors of CU traits in preschoolers with comorbid depression, findings suggest that current treatments for CU traits that focus solely on improving parenting could be made more effective by targeting maternal EI and helping mothers better model emotional competence.
KW - Callous-unemotional traits
KW - Early childhood
KW - Emotional intelligence
KW - Maternal factors
KW - Parenting
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85137467132&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00787-022-02074-8
DO - 10.1007/s00787-022-02074-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 36063216
AN - SCOPUS:85137467132
JO - European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
JF - European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
SN - 1018-8827
ER -