Parent-emerging adult relationships and callous-unemotional traits: moderation by negative affect

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are an affective dimension of psychopathy. Although many studies have established the relation between parenting and CU traits, most have focused on children and adolescents. CU traits have been shown to extend beyond adolescence, and parenting remains pivotal to emerging adults. Thus, the current study examined how parenting quality might influence CU traits and how temperament, specifically negative affect, might moderate that relation in emerging adults across gender. Using a cross-sectional sample of 602 college-attending emerging adults, the current study found that maternal closeness was associated with lower CU traits across gender, but paternal closeness was only associated with lower CU traits in women. In contrast, paternal discord was associated with higher CU traits across gender, whereas maternal discord was only associated with higher CU traits in women. Our findings also suggested paternal discord was associated with higher levels of women’s CU traits among those with low, but not high, negative affect. Results provide supporting evidence that positive parent-child relationships, especially in mixed-gender dyads, play a vital role in emerging adults’ behavior. Clinical and treatment implications are discussed.