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The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) in Children: Reliability and Heritability

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Abstract

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits comprise the core symptoms of psychopathy, yet no study has estimated the heritability of CU traits in a community sample of children using an instrument designed solely to assess CU traits. The current study uses data from 339 twin pairs aged 9–14 to examine the reliability and heritability of the parent-report Inventory of Callous-unemotional Traits (ICU) at two assessments approximately 3 weeks apart. Time-specific measurement error was taken into account to obtain a more accurate estimate of the heritability reflecting the latent liability to CU traits. Test–retest reliability was 0.84 and heritability at visit 1 was 39%. The heritability of the latent liability to CU traits was 47%. This latent liability contributed 79% of the variance in ICU score at visit 1 and visit 2. This is the first study to account for measurement error while examining the heritability of CU traits, furthering our understanding of psychopathy in children.

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Notes

  1. Identical sets of reliability and SEM analyses were conducted with observations more than three standard deviations from the mean (N = 2) removed, and the results were nearly identical to those reported here.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the VCU-JAS participants as well as the many VCU faculty, students, and staff who contributed to the design and implementation of the project.

Funding

VCU-JAS was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIMH R01MH098055 to JMH and NIMH IRP-ZIAMH002781 to DSP). AAM is supported by NIMH T32MH020030. RRN is supported by NIMH R01MH101518. The Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry is supported through NCATS UL1TR000058.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 980489, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA

    Ashlee A. Moore, Dever Carney, Roxann Roberson-Nay & John M. Hettema

  2. Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Ashlee A. Moore

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Roxann Roberson-Nay & John M. Hettema

  4. Department of Health and Human Services, Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Elizabeth Moroney, Laura Machlin, Kenneth E. Towbin, Melissa A. Brotman, Daniel S. Pine & Ellen Leibenluft

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  1. Ashlee A. Moore
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  3. Elizabeth Moroney
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Correspondence to Ashlee A. Moore.

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Ashlee A. Moore, Dever Carney, Elizabeth Moroney, Laura Machlin, Kenneth E. Towbin, Melissa A. Brotman, Daniel S. Pine, Ellen Leibenluft, Roxann Roberson-Nay and John M. Hettema declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent (adults) or assent (children) was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Edited by Yoon-Mi Hur.

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Moore, A.A., Carney, D., Moroney, E. et al. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) in Children: Reliability and Heritability. Behav Genet 47, 141–151 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-016-9831-1

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