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Research has clearly indicated that the development of serious behavioral problems in children and adolescents is influenced by parenting. However, recent research has refined the role of parenting by showing the importance of distinguishing between different types of parenting and in considering the role of callous-unemotional traits (CU traits) and conduct problems (CP) of the children. In the current study, we advance this research by distinguishing between emotional (e.g., parental warmth; parental hostility) and behavioral (e.g., use of positive reinforcement; inconsistent discipline/harsh discipline) aspects of parenting and by considering the way parents respond to children's emotions (i.e., coaching and dismissing). The sample consisted of 136 mothers (M = 38.09 years, SD = 4.51 years, 45.41% high school degree) with a child (age range 3-5 years) enrolled in kindergarten in central Italy. Multiple regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for level of CP, use of positive reinforcement (β = -0.31, p < 0.001) and warm feelings (β = -0.22, p < 0.05), remained associated with CU traits and punitive parenting was no longer significant. Consistent with predictions, use of positive reinforcement was no longer associated with conduct problems when controlling for CU traits and the positive associations with punitive parenting (β = 0.24, p < 0.05) and negativity (β = 0.36, p < 0.001) remained significant. These findings support the need for continued research that considers both the emotional and behavioral aspects of parenting and disentangles their associations with conduct problems and CU traits. Such research could not only advance causal theories for children with conduct problems but also help to guide more effective treatments, especially for those with elevated CU traits who often leave treatment with significant conduct problems remaining., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

This study investigated the associations among conduct problems, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and indices of emotion recognition accuracy and emotion recognition bias obtained from human faces. Impairments in emotion recognition were considered within broader, impaired emotional and social functioning. The sample consisted of 293 middle-school students (51.19% girls; M age = 12.97 years, SD = 0.88 years). In general, CU traits were associated with less accuracy in recognizing emotions, especially fearful and angry faces, and such deficits in emotional recognition were not associated with conduct problems independent of CU traits. These results support the importance of studying potential deficits in the recognition of emotions other than fear. Furthermore, our results support the importance of considering the role of CU traits when studying emotional correlates of conduct problems. For children scoring high on CU traits, the emotion recognition accuracy of anger was low irrespective of the level of conduct problems, whereas in children scoring low on CU traits, less accuracy in recognizing emotions was related to increases in conduct problems. Finally, our results support the need for research to not only focus on accuracy of emotional recognition but also test whether there are specific biases leading to these inaccuracies. Specifically, CU traits were associated not only with lower accuracy in recognizing fearful faces but also with a tendency to interpret fearful faces as angry. This suggests that the emotional deficit associated with CU traits is not just a deficit in empathic concern toward others distress but also includes a tendency to overinterpret emotions as potential threats to oneself.

Objectives. To determine the impact of California's recreational marijuana legalization on marijuana use among justice system-involved (JSI) adolescents and young adults, and to distinguish whether any changes resulted from legalization (passing the law) or from implementation of the law. Methods. We compared changes in JSI youths' marijuana use in 2 states: California (n = 504), where recreational marijuana use was recently legalized, and Pennsylvania (n = 478), where recreational use is still prohibited. Furthermore, we examined changes in marijuana use across 3 key time periods (October 2015-June 2018): before legalization, after legalization but before implementation, and after implementation. Results. California JSI youths did not demonstrate a significant increase in marijuana use after legalization (b = -0.010; P  = .950) or implementation (b = -0.046; P  = .846). However, in Pennsylvania, rates of marijuana use increased significantly after legalization (b = 0.602; P  = .001) but not after implementation (b = 0.174; P  = .533). Conclusions. Although recreational marijuana legalization was not associated with changes in marijuana use among youths in California, we observed increased rates of use in Pennsylvania after legalization in California. Recreational marijuana laws may be indirectly related to youths' marijuana use by supporting more permissive national attitudes toward marijuana.

Background: From birth, the human propensity to selectively attend and respond to critical super-stimuli forms the basis of future socio-emotional development and health. In particular, the first super-stimuli to preferentially engage and elicit responses in the healthy newborn are the physical touch, voice and face/eyes of caregivers. From this grows selective attention and responsiveness to emotional expression, scaffolding the development of empathy, social cognition, and other higher human capacities. In this paper, the protocol for a longitudinal, prospective birth-cohort study is presented. The major aim of this study is to map the emergence of individual differences and disturbances in the system of social-Responsiveness, Emotional Attention, and Learning (REAL) through the first 3 years of life to predict the specific emergence of the major childhood mental health problems, as well as social adjustment and impairment more generally. A further aim of this study is to examine how the REAL variables interact with the quality of environment/caregiver interactions., Methods/design: A prospective, longitudinal birth-cohort study will be conducted. Data will be collected from four assessments and mothers' electronic medical records., Discussion: This study will be the first to test a clear developmental map of both the unique and specific causes of childhood psychopathology and will identify more precise early intervention targets for children with complex comorbid conditions., (Copyright © 2020 Doyle, Mendoza Diaz, Eapen, Frick, Kimonis, Hawes, Moul, Richmond, Mehta, Sareen, Morgan and Dadds.)

Background: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are important for designating a distinct subgroup of children and adolescents with behaviour problems.  As a result, CU traits are now used to form the specifier "with Limited Prosocial Emotions" that is part of the diagnostic criteria for the Conduct Disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 th Edition (DSM-5) and International Classification of Diseases 11 th Revision (ICD-11).  Given this inclusion in major classification systems, it is important to develop and test methods for assessing these traits that can be used in clinical settings.  The present study aimed to validate a clinician rating of CU traits, the Clinical Assessment of Prosocial Emotions, Version 1.1 (CAPE 1.1), in a sample of hard-to-reach families referred to a government program designed to prevent the development of behaviour problems in high risk families. Methods: Clinical ratings of children were obtained from 34 families of children ages 5 to 18 (M=13.5; SD=3.2). The ratings on the CAPE 1.1 were based on interviews with both parent and child. Results : Of the sample, 21% (100% male) met the diagnostic cut-off for the specifier according to the CAPE 1.1, and CAPE 1.1 scores were associated with parent ratings of CU traits, psychopathic traits, and externalising behaviours. CAPE 1.1 ratings were also associated with risk for violence obtained from case files.  Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary evidence for the validity of the CAPE 1.1 as clinician rated measure of CU traits., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Dr Paul Frick is the creator of the CAPE measure., (Copyright: © 2020 Centifanti LCM et al.)

Fathers are underrepresented in interventions focussing on child well-being, yet research suggests their involvement may be critical to enhancing intervention effectiveness. This study aimed to provide the first Australian benchmark of rates of father attendance across several child mental health services. Retrospective casefile reviews were conducted to obtain data on father and mother attendance at 10 Australian child mental health services. A total of 2128 casefile records were retrospectively examined to extract family-level data. The main outcome measures were rates of father and mother attendance at sessions involving parents, and rates of father- and mother-instigated referral to services. Across services, fathers attended on average 48.2% (range 39.7% to 72.0%) of total parent sessions, with an average of 68.4% (range 53.1% to 88.1%) of fathers attending at least one session. Mothers attended sessions at significantly higher rates; an average of 92.8% of total parent sessions and 96.9% attendance for at least one session. For self-referred families, on average 12.6% of referrals were from fathers, and 87.4% were from mothers. These results indicate that rates of father attendance at Australian child mental health services vary, but are significantly lower than attendance rates for mothers. This may compromise the quality and outcomes of child mental health services in Australia. Routine monitoring of rates of father attendance is needed, as are strategies to enhance father engagement., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Parenting interventions that focus on enhancing the quality and consistency of parenting are effective for preventing and reducing externalising problems in children. There has been a recent shift towards online delivery of parenting interventions in order to increase their reach and impact on the population prevalence of child externalising problems. Parenting interventions have low rates of father participation yet research suggests that father involvement may be critical to the success of the intervention. Despite this, no online parenting interventions have been specifically developed to meet the needs and preferences of fathers, as well as mothers. This paper describes the protocol of a study examining the effectiveness of an online, father-inclusive parenting intervention called 'ParentWorks', which will be delivered as a universal intervention to Australian families., Methods/design: A single group clinical trial will be conducted to examine the effectiveness of ParentWorks for reducing child externalising problems and improving parenting, as well as to explore the impact of father engagement (in two-parent families) on child outcomes. Australian parents/caregivers with a child aged 2-16 years will be recruited. Participants will provide informed consent, complete pre-intervention measures and will then complete the intervention, which consists of five compulsory video modules and three optional modules. The primary outcomes for this study are changes in child externalising behaviour, positive and dysfunctional parenting practices and parental conflict, and the secondary outcome is changes in parental mental health. Demographic information, satisfaction with the intervention, and measures of parental engagement will also be collected. Questionnaire data will be collected at pre-intervention, post-intervention and three-month follow-up, as well as throughout the program., Discussion: This paper describes the study protocol of a single group clinical trial of a national, online, father-inclusive parenting intervention. The results from this study could be used to inform public policy about providing support to parents of children with behaviour problems, and enhancing the engagement of fathers in parenting interventions., Trial Registration: ACTRN12616001223426 , registered 05/09/2016.

Background: Early childhood interventions can have both immediate and long-term positive effects on cognitive, behavioural, health and education outcomes. Fathers are underrepresented in interventions focusing on the well-being of children. However, father participation may be critical for intervention effectiveness, especially for parenting interventions for child externalising problems. To date, there has been very little research conducted to understand the low rates of father participation and to facilitate the development of interventions to meet the needs of fathers. This study examined fathers' experiences of, and preferences for, parenting interventions as well as perceptions of barriers to participation. It also examined how these factors were associated with child externalising behaviour problems, and explored the predictors of participation in parenting interventions., Methods: A community sample of 1001 fathers of children aged 2-16 years completed an online survey about experiences with parenting interventions, perceived barriers to participation, the importance of different factors in their decision to attend, and preferred content and delivery methods. They also completed ratings of their child's behaviour using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire., Results: Overall, 15% of fathers had participated in a parenting intervention or treatment for child behaviour, with significantly higher rates of participation for fathers of children with high versus low levels of externalising problems. Fathers rated understanding what is involved in the program and knowing that the facilitator is trained as the two most important factors in their decision to participate. There were several barriers to participation that fathers of children with high-level externalising problems were more likely to endorse, across practical barriers and help-seeking attitudes, compared to fathers of children with low-level externalising problems. Almost two-thirds of fathers of children with high-level externalising behaviour had not participated in a parenting intervention or treatment. The only significant predictors of intervention participation were severity of child externalising behaviour problems and child age., Conclusions: The findings have important implications for services seeking to increase father engagement and highlight a number of strategies to enhance the promotion and delivery of parenting interventions to fathers. These strategies include more public health messaging about parenting programs and the importance of father participation.

Objectives: Recent research has uncovered several developmental pathways through which children and adolescents can develop a tendency to display the severe antisocial behavior associated with the diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD)., Methods: This focused review is designed to briefly outline three different etiological pathways described in the literature. These pathways are distinguished by the age of onset of the antisocial behavior, the presence/absence of significant levels of callous-unemotional traits, and the presence/absence of problems with anger regulation., Results: Evidence from developmental psychopathology research (particularly longitudinal studies) that support the different life-course trajectories and putative etiological factors associated with antisocial behavior across these pathways is presented., Conclusions: Limitations in the available research on these developmental pathways and implications of this research for the prevention and treatment of children and adolescents with CD are discussed.

There is an emerging body of research that has focused on understanding the different causal pathways through which children develop severe aggressive and antisocial behavior. In addition, there is a substantial body of research indicating that certain models of intervention have some demonstrated level of effectiveness for preventing and treating antisocial behavior, albeit with some significant limitations. The focus of this paper is to integrate these two bodies of research in an effort to improve the effectiveness of the next generation of interventions for antisocial youth, especially those designed to prevent and treat certain subgroups of antisocial youth who have largely been unresponsive to existing approaches to intervention. One such group consists of those antisocial youths who show a callous and unemotional interpersonal style and who seem to be at risk for showing a particularly severe and aggressive pattern of antisocial behavior.

D. Seagrave and T. Grisso (2002) provide a review of the emerging research on the construct of juvenile psychopathy and make the important point that use of this construct in forensic decision-making could have serious consequences for juvenile offenders. Furthermore, the existing literature on the construct of psychopathy in youth is not sufficient to justify its use for most forensic purposes. These basic points are very important cautions on the use of measures of psychopathy in forensic settings. However, in this response, several issues related to the reasons given for why concern over the potential misuse of measures of psychopathy should be greater than that for measures of other psychopathological constructs used to make decisions with potentially serious consequences are discussed. Also, the rationale for some of the standards proposed to guide research on measures of juvenile psychopathy that focus on assumptions about the construct of psychopathy that are not clearly articulated and that are only peripherally related to validating their use in forensic assessments is questioned.

There are many views in both the lay and professional literatures as to the causes of violent behavior. These views influence the types of interventions that are designed and tested for preventing violence or for treating violent individuals. In this paper, the author provides a developmental psychopathology framework in which violent behavior is viewed as a developmental outcome that can result from many different pathways, each involving a somewhat different interaction of causal processes. This way of viewing violent behavior has already helped to guide some of the more effective prevention and treatment strategies, with the key to their success being a comprehensive and individualized approach to intervention. This approach for understanding violent behavior also points the way to some important goals for a next generation of prevention and treatment programs.