ABSTRACT

Objective: The recent addition of the callous-unemotional (CU) traits specifier, “with Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPE),” to major classification systems has prompted the need for assessment tools that aid in the identification of elevations on these traits for diagnostic purposes. The goal of the current study was to use and evaluate multiple methods for establishing cutoff scores for the multi-informant questionnaire, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU).

Method: The present study compared the clinical utility of various proposed cutoff methods and scores (i.e., empirically derived cutoffs using receiver operating characteristic (ROC), normative cutoffs, and rational scoring approximations of LPE criteria) in both a longitudinal sample of justice-involved male adolescents (N = 1,216; M_age = 15.29, SD = 1.29) and a cross-sectional sample of school children (N = 289; M_age = 11.47 years; SD = 2.26).

Results: Methods resulted in a range of cutoff scores with substantial diagnostic overlap and validity. Specifically, they designated justice-involved adolescents at risk for later delinquency, aggression, and rearrests, and they designated school children more likely to be rated by parents and teacher as having conduct problems and rated by peers as being rejected and mean.

Conclusions: The results lead to ranges of ICU scores that have support for their validity and can help to guide clinical decisions about children and adolescents who may be elevated on CU traits.

摘要

目标：最近在主要分类系统中添加了冷酷无情（CU）特征说明符“具有有限的亲社会情感（LPE）”，这促使需要评估工具来帮助识别这些特征的升高以用于诊断目的。本研究的目标是使用和评估多种方法来建立多信息问卷调查的截止分数，即冷酷无情特质清单（ICU）。

方法：本研究比较了司法涉及的纵向样本中各种提出的截止方法和评分（即使用接受者操作特征（ROC）的经验得出的截止值、规范截止值和 LPE 标准的理性评分近似值）的临床效用。男性青少年（N = 1,216；M_年龄 = 15.29，SD  = 1.29）和学童横截面样本（N = 289；M_年龄 = 11.47 岁；SD  = 2.26）。

结果：方法产生了一系列具有显着诊断重叠和有效性的截止分数。具体来说，他们指定参与司法的青少年面临日后犯罪、攻击性和再次逮捕的风险，并指定学童更有可能被家长和老师评价为有行为问题，并被同龄人评价为被拒绝和刻薄。

结论：结果得出 ICU 评分范围，支持其有效性，并有助于指导有关 CU 特征可能升高的儿童和青少年的临床决策。