The Relationship Between Mother's Psychosis And Child's Cruel And Ruthless Traits

The callous-unemotional(CU)trait refer to a lack of sympathy,lack of remorse or guilt,disregard for other people's feelings,shallow affect or lack of emotion.Children and adolescents with CU trait show more serious,more stable,and more offensive anti-social behaviors.They tend to become lifelong persistent offenders in adulthood(Scheepers,Buitelaar,& Matthys,2011).Behavioral genetics studies found that CU traits have considerable heritability(Bezdjian,Raine,Baker,& Lynam,2011;Taylor,Loney,Bobadilla,Iacono,& McGue,2003).Parental psychopathy may influence CU trait in children through genetic and environmental factors(e.g.,parenting).The psychopathy of parents affects their parenting style,and the parenting style will further affect the CU trait in children.Because of little research about the relationship between parental psychopathy,parenting styles and CU traits in children,and the importance of maternal role in the process of raising children in China,the current study attempts to explain the link between maternal psychopathy and CU trait in children by testing the potential mediating roles of maternal parenting(including authoritative parenting style and authoritarian parenting style).Data in this study were collected from grade 2 to grade 4 children and their mother in a primary school in Foshan,Guangdong Province.A longitudinal design was followed.The Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale was used to obtain the data on maternal psychopathy from mother in April 2016.The Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire was used to obtain the data on maternal parenting style from mother in October 2016.The Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits was used to obtain the data on CU trait in children from children and their mother in October 2017.Participants included 383 dyads of children(196 boys and 187 girls;Mean age = 7.33,SD = 1.05)and their mother(Mean age = 37.16,SD = 3.89).The findings suggested that the maternal authoritarian parenting style completely mediated the relation between the maternal psychopathy and CU trait in children(both in mother repots and self-repots of children).Additionally,the effect of maternal psychopathy on CU trait in children(only in mother reports)was partially mediated by maternal authoritative parenting style.Lastly,maternal authoritative parenting style did not mediate the relation between the maternal psychopathy and CU trait of children self-assessment.