Associations among Caregiving Helplessness, Parenting Stress and Child Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Clinic-Referred Sample

This study explored whether caregiving helplessness and parenting stress were associated with callous-unemotional (CU) traits in a clinic-referred sample of 92 children (3-9 years). Mothers (N = 92) and fathers (N = 35) of children with diagnosed conduct disorders (72% male) completed questionnaires assessing caregiving helplessness, parenting stress, child CU traits and conduct problems. Regression analyses revealed that among mothers, when controlling for family demographic variables and child conduct problems, lower reversed caregiving (child caring for an overwhelmed parent) and higher parenting stress were associated with higher child CU traits. For fathers, more frightened or frightening caregiving and lower reversed caregiving and parent helplessness were associated with higher child CU traits. These findings suggest that parent representations of caregiving helplessness are a useful construct to explore for children with CU traits and conduct problems. Interventions for children with higher CU traits could incorporate approaches that target parenting stress for mothers and fear-related caregiving representations for fathers. Future research should explore reasons for the different caregiving representations for mothers and fathers.