Self-Regulation as a Mediator Between CU Traits and Aggression

Journal of Forensic Psychology Research & Practice | p. 1-17

Callous-Unemotional Traits and Motivational Aggression: The Mediating Role of Self-Regulation

Catarina Braz Ferreira; Department of Education and Psychology, UTAD, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro [UTAD], Vila Real, Portugal

Patrícia Figueiredo; Hei-lab: Digital Human-Environment Interaction Lab, Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal; Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

Sofia Silva; Department of Education and Psychology, UTAD, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro [UTAD], Vila Real, Portugal

Eduarda Ramião; Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

Ricardo Barroso; Department of Education and Psychology, UTAD, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro [UTAD], Vila Real, Portugal; Faculty of Psychology and Educational Science, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal 

“Callous-unemotional (CU) traits play a significant role in predicting adolescent aggression, which can lead to a particular expression of antisocial behavior. Deficits in emotion regulation skills also explain the association between aggression and psychopathic characteristics. In the General Model of Aggression, aggression may be explained by personal factors, such as self-regulation skills and personality traits (i.e., callous-unemotional traits), which play a major role in the perpetration of these behaviors since childhood. Also, according to Farrington (2013), aggressive behavior in childhood can significantly predict the perpetration of aggression in adolescence and adulthood. However, no study to date has focused on the affective dimension of psychopathy, investigating the mediating effect of self-regulation on its relationship with aggressive behaviors in adolescents” (p. 1). 

“This research aims to study the role of self-regulation as a mediator of the association between CU traits and motivational aggression, which includes the typology of proactive and reactive aggression. Self-regulation is expected to mediate the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and proactive aggression, i.e., Hypothesis 1; and self-regulation is also expected to mediate the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and reactive aggression, i.e., Hypothesis 2” (p. 3).

“This study has an exploratory, quantitative, and cross-sectional design. Initially, the sample was composed of 3448 participants. The sampling methods are based on randomized procedures carried out in public schools in mainland Portugal and the islands. After Propensity Score Matching (PSM) application a sample composed of 746 adolescents (males, n = 492; 66%), aged between 11 and 20 years (M = 14.81; SD = 1.79), based on their proactive aggression behaviors, and a sample composed of 1552 adolescents (males, n = 922; 59.4%), aged between 11 and 21 years (M = 15.12; SD = 1.80), having in consideration their reactive aggressive conducts” (p. 4).

“For this study, the following hypotheses were gathered: Hypothesis 1 - self-regulation mediates the relationship between CU traits and proactive aggression; and Hypothesis 2 - self-regulation mediates the relationship between CU traits and reactive aggression. Regarding the results of this study, the effect of the indirect path was negative but significant, which contrasts with the regression coefficient for the direct path. As for the total effect, the direct relationship showed a positive and significant regression coefficient, in that CU traits are positively related to aggression. The indirect relationship reflected a negative relationship between CU traits and self-regulation, and a positive relationship between self-regulation and proactive and reactive aggression” (p. 10).

“Mediation effects showed that self-regulation acted as a mediator in the relationship between CU traits and proactive aggression, which supports Hypothesis 1; and between CU traits and reactive aggression, which also supports Hypothesis 2. Results showed that CU traits had a positive relationship with motivational aggression. According to scientific evidence, adolescents with high levels of CU traits are more prone to engage in aggressive behavior (e.g., Cardinale & Marsh, 2020; Fanti et al., 2016). Evidence suggests that individuals with CU traits tend to perpetrate proactive aggression (Muñoz et al., 2008), which is also in line with the direct effect result; however, regarding reactive aggression, Preston and Anestis (2020) found a significant but negative relation to CU traits, contrary to the results of this study which present a positive and significant direct effect between these variables. Callous-unemotional traits had a negative and significant association with self-regulation, meaning that low levels of CU traits are related to high levels of self-regulation, which literature has been inconsistent with exploring this relationship” (p. 10). 

“Firstly, it is important to consider the impossibility of determining the exact cutoff points of the RPQ (i.e., proactive, and reactive aggression subscale), which could influence the presentation of the results and, consequently, their interpretation. In addition, this research focused on the role of self-regulation as a mediator of the relationship between callous traits and aggression; however, it was not to determine the differences between high and low levels of adolescents’ self-regulating abilities, which could be investigated in future studies. In addition, the concept of “self-regulation” is not agreed upon, which may have affected the results, since the different ways of evaluating it must be interpreted uniquely. As far as sampling methods are concerned, simple random probability sampling was used, but this method is very time-consuming, which proved to be a limitation. The fact that this study was carried out using a community sample in a school context may have reduced the sample available as a result of possible absences on the part of the students when the data was collected, which is also a limitation to the use of this sampling method.  

It is worth noting the difficulty in generalizing the results to other samples, i.e. clinical and forensic, since the cutoff points were based on the central measure of each subscale and not on an average value for these specific samples that would indicate behavioral disturbance concerning the proactive and reactive dimensions. The generalization also has limitations for youths who dropped out of school or have been absent. Despite these difficulties, these results can be extended to clinical and forensic contexts through the development of interventions for aggressive behavior, which include the exploration of personal characteristics as variables of interest. 

Also, understanding the impact of other possible mediators under consideration, such as the presentation of conduct problems or another psychopathological condition, will allow the exploration of underlying mechanisms to further understand the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and motivational aggression. This study only focused on the total ICU dimension and did not explore the callousness and uncaring dimensions in detail. This more general observation of the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and the practice of motivational aggression should be considered when interpreting the results obtained, particularly at the level of mediation analyses, since important data may have been lost concerning the subdimensions. In the future, the relationship between the practice of proactive and reactive aggression should be explored, taking into account the traits of callousness and uncaring. Also, the authors should replicate the data for other types of samples, allowing for potential comparisons between them. 

Another relevant detail relates to the impossibility of establishing causal relationships between variables since this is a cross-sectional design, so future research should provide terms of comparison by carrying out longitudinal research, understanding effects over time, and the impact of the development process on the associations established between variables. Finally, the fact that all the measures were based exclusively on self-report can be seen as a limitation, which implies that the multi-method design may be relevant in replicating future studies” (p. 12-13).