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Research on the association between callous–unemotional (CU) traits and intelligence yielded contradictory results. Moreover, several previous studies focused on global intelligence scores or verbal vs. nonverbal/performance abilities usually evaluated with short/abbreviated instruments. The current study builds on these previous works and explores the link between CU traits and intelligence using the full version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—4th Edition (WISC-IV), which provides four different verbal and nonverbal abilities scores. This guarantees a more detailed evaluation of children's intelligence and its relation to CU traits. The sample included children (N = 149; age 6–14 years old) with severe behavioral problems. Clinicians administered the WISC-IV, and parents completed questionnaires evaluating the child's externalizing problems and CU traits. Findings showed that CU traits were associated with lower verbal comprehension scores after also controlling for gender, age, externalizing problems, and the other WISC-IV indexes. In addition, CU traits and externalizing problems did not interact in predicting the WISC-IV indexes, and there were no significant differences in the WISC-IV indexes between children with CU traits and high vs. low externalizing problems. The current study suggests the relevance of assessing and addressing verbal abilities in children with behavioral problems and CU traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggressive behaviors and disruptive/conduct disorders are some of the commonest reasons for referral to youth mental health services; nevertheless, the efficacy of therapeutic interventions in real-world clinical practice remains unclear. In order to define more appropriate targets for innovative pharmacological therapies for disruptive/conduct disorders, the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) funded the MATRICS project (Multidisciplinary Approaches to Translational Research in Conduct Syndromes) to identify neural, genetic, and molecular factors underpinning the pathogenesis of aggression/antisocial behavior in preclinical models and clinical samples. Within the program, a multicentre case-control study, followed by a single-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over, randomized acute single-dose medication challenge, was conducted at two Italian sites. Aggressive children and adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) were compared to the same age (10–17 y) typically developing controls (TDC) on a neuropsychological tasks battery that included both "cold" (e.g., inhibitory control, decision making) and "hot" executive functions (e.g., moral judgment, emotion processing, risk assessment). Selected autonomic measures (heart rate variability, skin conductance, salivary cortisol) were recorded before/during/after neuropsychological testing sessions. The acute response to different drugs (methylphenidate/atomoxetine, risperidone/aripiprazole, or placebo) was also examined in the ODD/CD cohort in order to identify potential neuropsychological/physiological mechanisms underlying aggression. The paper describes the protocol of the clinical MATRICS WP6-1 study, its rationale, the specific outcome measures, and their implications for a precision medicine approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although childhood-onset psychiatric disorders are often considered as distinct and separate from each other, they frequently co-occur, with partial overlapping symptomatology. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) commonly co-occur with each other and with other mental disorders, particularly disruptive behavior disorders, oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD). Whether these associated comorbidities represent a spectrum of distinct clinical phenotypes is matter of research. The aim of our study was to describe the clinical phenotypes of youths with ADHD with and without ASD and/or ODD/CD, based on neuropsychological and psychopathological variables. One-hundred fifty-one participants with ADHD were prospectively recruited and assigned to four clinical groups, and assessed by means of parent-reported questionnaires, the child behavior checklist and the behavior rating inventory of executive functions. The ADHD alone group presented a greater impairment in metacognitive executive functions, ADHD+ASD patients presented higher internalizing problems and deficits in Shifting tasks, and ADHD+ODD/CD subjects presented emotional-behavioral dysregulation. Moreover, ADHD+ASD+ODD/CD individuals exhibited greater internalizing and externalizing problems, and specific neuropsychological impairments in the domains of emotional regulation. Our study supports the need to implement the evaluation of the psychopathological and neuropsychological functioning profiles, and to characterize specific endophenotypes for a finely customized establishment of treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]