背景:冷酷无情(CU)特征与人际关系困难和严重行为问题(CP)的风险有关。沟通思想和感情的能力对社会成功至关重要,语言是一个有希望的治疗目标。然而,以前没有研究检查儿童早期CU特征的客观语言相关性,这可以深入了解潜在的风险机制和新的目标治疗。
方法:我们计算词汇(积极情绪,悲伤,和愤怒的单词)和对话(中断和言语率)标记由131名5-6岁的儿童(M=5.98;SD=0.54,58.8%的女性)及其父母在两次在线访问中讲述无语的故事书,相隔6-8周(M=6.56,SD=1.11;两本书,订单平衡)。录音是diarized,时间对齐,并使用WebTrans进行正射转录。使用R计算对话标记,并使用语言查询和字数计数(LIWC)软件计算单词频率。我们检查了儿童CU特征和语言标记之间的联系,并探讨关系是否受儿童性调节。
结果:较高的CU特征与父母和孩子产生的较少的积极情绪词相关。较高的CU特征也与父母和孩子的中断程度和愤怒情绪词的表达更加一致有关。
结论:结果表明,在儿童早期可以检测到CU特征的客观语言相关性,这可以提供辅助治疗模块,通过精确跟踪和瞄准微妙的沟通模式来改善结果。
BACKGROUND: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with interpersonal difficulties and risk for severe conduct problems (CP). The ability to communicate thoughts and feelings is critical to social success, with language a promising treatment target. However, no prior studies have examined objective linguistic correlates of childhood CU traits in early childhood, which could give insight into underlying risk mechanisms and novel target treatments.
METHODS: We computed lexical (positive emotion, sad, and anger words) and conversational (interruptions and speech rate) markers produced by 131 children aged 5-6 years (M = 5.98; SD = 0.54, 58.8% female) and their parents while narrating wordless storybooks during two online visits separated by 6-8 weeks (M = 6.56, SD = 1.11; two books, order counterbalanced). Audio recordings were diarized, time-aligned, and orthographically transcribed using WebTrans. Conversational markers were calculated using R and word frequencies were calculated using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. We examined links between child CU traits and linguistic markers, and explored whether relationships were moderated by child sex.
RESULTS: Higher CU traits were associated with fewer positive emotion words produced by parents and children. Higher CU traits were also associated with greater concordance in the degree of interruptions and expression of anger emotion words by parents and children.
CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that objective linguistic correlates of CU traits are detectable during early childhood, which could inform adjunctive treatment modules that improve outcomes by precisely tracking and targeting subtle communication patterns.