TY - JOUR
T1 - Neuropsychological Subgroups of Emotion Processing in Youths With Conduct Disorder
AU - Kohls, Gregor
AU - Fairchild, Graeme
AU - Bernhard, Anka
AU - Martinelli, Anne
AU - Smaragdi, Areti
AU - Gonzalez-Madruga, Karen
AU - Wells, Amy
AU - Rogers, Jack C.
AU - Pauli, Ruth
AU - Oldenhof, Helena
AU - Jansen, Lucres
AU - Rhijn, Arthur van
AU - Kersten, Linda
AU - Alfano, Janine
AU - Baumann, Sarah
AU - Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate
AU - Vetro, Agnes
AU - Lazaratou, Helen
AU - Hervas, Amaia
AU - Fernández-Rivas, Aranzazu
AU - Popma, Arne
AU - Stadler, Christina
AU - De Brito, Stephane A.
AU - Freitag, Christine M.
AU - Konrad, Kerstin
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement no. 602407 (FemNAT-CD, coordinator: CF, University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2020 Kohls, Fairchild, Bernhard, Martinelli, Smaragdi, Gonzalez-Madruga, Wells, Rogers, Pauli, Oldenhof, Jansen, Rhijn, Kersten, Alfano, Baumann, Herpertz-Dahlmann, Vetro, Lazaratou, Hervas, Fernández-Rivas, Popma, Stadler, De Brito, Freitag and Konrad.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12/22
Y1 - 2020/12/22
N2 - Background: At the group level, youths with conduct disorder (CD) show deficient emotion processing across various tasks compared to typically developing controls (TDC). But little is known about neuropsychological subgroups within the CD population, the clinical correlates of emotion processing deficits [for instance, with regard to the presence or absence of the DSM-5 Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPE) specifier], and associated risk factors. Methods: 542 children and adolescents with CD (317 girls) and 710 TDCs (479 girls), aged 9–18 years, were included from the FemNAT-CD multisite study. All participants completed three neuropsychological tasks assessing emotion recognition, emotion learning, and emotion regulation. We used a self-report measure of callous-unemotional traits to create a proxy for the LPE specifier. Results: Relative to TDCs, youths with CD as a group performed worse in all three emotion domains. But using clinically based cut-off scores, we found poor emotion recognition skills in only 23% of the participants with CD, followed by emotion regulation deficits in 18%, and emotion learning deficits in 13% of the CD group. Critically, the majority of youths with CD (~56%) did not demonstrate any meaningful neuropsychological deficit, and only a very small proportion showed pervasive deficits across all three domains (~1%). Further analyses indicate that established DSM-5 subtypes of CD are not tightly linked to neurocognitive deficits in one particular emotion domain over another (i.e., emotion recognition deficits in CD+LPE vs. emotion regulation deficits in CD–LPE). Conclusions: Findings from this large-scale data set suggest substantial neuropsychological diversity in emotion processing in the CD population and, consequently, only a subgroup of youths with CD are likely to benefit from additional behavioral interventions specifically targeting emotion processing mechanisms.
AB - Background: At the group level, youths with conduct disorder (CD) show deficient emotion processing across various tasks compared to typically developing controls (TDC). But little is known about neuropsychological subgroups within the CD population, the clinical correlates of emotion processing deficits [for instance, with regard to the presence or absence of the DSM-5 Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPE) specifier], and associated risk factors. Methods: 542 children and adolescents with CD (317 girls) and 710 TDCs (479 girls), aged 9–18 years, were included from the FemNAT-CD multisite study. All participants completed three neuropsychological tasks assessing emotion recognition, emotion learning, and emotion regulation. We used a self-report measure of callous-unemotional traits to create a proxy for the LPE specifier. Results: Relative to TDCs, youths with CD as a group performed worse in all three emotion domains. But using clinically based cut-off scores, we found poor emotion recognition skills in only 23% of the participants with CD, followed by emotion regulation deficits in 18%, and emotion learning deficits in 13% of the CD group. Critically, the majority of youths with CD (~56%) did not demonstrate any meaningful neuropsychological deficit, and only a very small proportion showed pervasive deficits across all three domains (~1%). Further analyses indicate that established DSM-5 subtypes of CD are not tightly linked to neurocognitive deficits in one particular emotion domain over another (i.e., emotion recognition deficits in CD+LPE vs. emotion regulation deficits in CD–LPE). Conclusions: Findings from this large-scale data set suggest substantial neuropsychological diversity in emotion processing in the CD population and, consequently, only a subgroup of youths with CD are likely to benefit from additional behavioral interventions specifically targeting emotion processing mechanisms.
KW - callous-unemotional (CU) traits
KW - conduct disorder (CD)
KW - emotion learning
KW - emotion recognition
KW - emotion regulation
KW - heterogeneity
KW - limited prosocial emotions specifier
KW - neuropsychology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099021063&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.585052
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.585052
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85099021063
SN - 1664-0640
VL - 11
JO - Frontiers in Psychiatry
JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry
M1 - 585052
ER -