engleski

The relationship between problematic personality traits, executive functions and conduct problems in preschool children

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between problematic personality traits (grandiose-deceitful, callous- unemotional and impulsivity-need for stimulation), some aspects of executive functions (planning and risky decision-making) and conduct problems. The study was conducted in a sample of randomly selected 165 children (mean age = 5.28 years ; 51% of boys)-parent dyads, currently involved in the longitudinal study ECLAT. In order to achieve greater variability in psychopathic traits, problem behaviors and executive functioning, children were recruited from both mainstream (n = 115) and high-risk (n = 50) kindergartens. Planning and risky decision-making were measured using the Hungry Donkey Task (i.e. long-term consequences index and bias for infrequent loss index) and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task-BART (i.e., reward and punishment responsivity, and cost-benefit ratio), while parents and teachers filled out questionnaires assessing the child's personality traits (Child Problematic Traits Inventory) and conduct problems (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. All three dimensions of problematic personality traits were positively and moderately associated with conduct problems. Moreover, the Grandiose-Deceitful and Callous-Unemotional dimensions were negatively related to the bias for infrequent loss index. In addition, two the aforementioned dimensions were positively related to the cost-benefit ration. In other words, children who were rated higher on the affective and interpersonal dimensions of problematic personality traits were more likely to choose doors that provide smaller, but more frequent losses in the Hungry Donkey Task. In addition, they made less risky choices in the BART task. In contrast, the Impulsivity-Need for Stimulation dimension was negatively associated with the long-term consequences index. In addition, conduct problems were negatively related to the cost-benefit ratio suggesting that children who exhibit behavioural problems tend to make riskier decisions during the BART task. Finally, relative contributions of individual variables included in this study were examined. After controlling for the child’s sex, age, intelligence and working memory (WISC-IV-HR ; Block design and Digit span), only three dimensions of problematic personality traits were significant postdictors of conduct problems. The findings have implications for assessment of problem behaviours in young children.

psychopathic traits ; children ; executive functions ; conduct problems

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