Callous–Unemotional Behaviors in School

Callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors involve little evidence of empathy, with interpersonal callousness, restricted affect, and a lack of concern about performance. A recent study by Willoughby et al. (2022), published in School Psychology, was intended to determine whether teachers can identify callous-unemotional behavior as a separate factor in disruptive behavior in school.

They used 138 first- and second-graders (68% male, 76% eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and only 23% white). They found that teachers could differentiate CU behaviors from those associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct problems (CP). Here’s more from the abstract;

Although higher levels of CU behaviors explained unique variation in teacher-reported social competence and global impairment, CU behaviors did not explain unique variation in disciplinary infractions, classroom behavior, or academic functioning after accounting for ADHD and CP behaviors. A different pattern of results was evident when CU was considered in conjunction with ADHD and CP behaviors. Latent profile analyses identified three subgroups of participants (i.e., a nondisruptive group, an ADHD group, and a comorbid group, who exhibited elevated levels of ADHD, CP, and CU). Compared to the nondisruptive group, the ADHD group exhibited higher rates of off-task classroom behavior and worse academic functioning. The comorbid group exhibited moderate-to-large differences from both groups on teacher-reported and objective outcomes. 

While these findings are not surprising, especially in that the comorbid group is easily distinguished from the ADHD-only and nondisruptive groups, there’s obviously a need for further research with larger samples. However, it seems to me that finding ways to operationalize CU behaviors and help school personnel differentiate them from other disruptive behaviors is desperately needed.